Rio Tinto Alcan giving Kitimat smelter the go-ahead — slowly

North American metals executive denies project will be halted. Rio Tinto Alcan has slowed, but not halted, the $2-billion modernization project at Kitimat’s 50-year-old aluminum smelter, the company’s North American president for primary metal said Thursday. Jean Simon told The Vancouver Sun’s editorial board he relayed that message to unionized smelter workers, community and business leaders and local politicians in a visit earlier this week to the central coast resource town. As announced in November, the company will slow the pace if its modernization program, spending a total of $500 million on preparatory work towards construction of a new smelter at the Kitimat site. But Simon denied Rio Tinto Alcan is halting the project. “It is a really good project, but we’re going into a more slow rhythm,” Simon said. “There will be workers on site next summer [although] not as many as we would have wanted last autumn.” He added that Kitimat is a perfect fit with the company’s philosophy of holding onto and developing its best assets. “This project is one of the best for us. We’ve been there for more than 50 years. It is a great place for us. We have good opportunity, a good asset, and the value of our power generation is very important to us. We have also been a member of the community.” Rio Tinto Alcan announced on Jan. 20 that it was cutting aluminum production and laying off workers at some of its smelters, in response to falling global aluminum demand. The Kitimat operation is holding on to all of its unionized workers and permanent for now, but laid off some contractors, as a result of that decision. source：www.vancouversun.com