GOVE

Announced that the company will build a US$180 million aluminum spent pot lining recycling plant in Quebec's Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region.

The expansion and existing plant upgrade project were approved in Sept/04, and are approximately 90% complete. They will increase the refinery's capacity from approximately two million to 3.8 million tonnes per year. It is expected that a total cost increase of approximately 20 to 25% against the original $1.5-billion (U.S.) for the expansion and upgrade. The Gove alumina refinery uses the Bayer Process, which entails injecting relatively cool bauxite slurry into a hotter caustic solution prior to heating the mix. Recognizing that a significant increase in production, and considerable savings in raw materials, could be achieved by reducing the amount of direct-injection steam, Bauxite and Alumina’s Australian engineers came up with a novel solution that involves indirectly heating the bauxite slurry by using innovative pipe-within-pipe technology. Despite numerous challenges, the project was completed more than four months ahead of schedule, 4% below budget and succeeded in boosting alumina output by 22,000 tonnes, while cutting caustic soda inputs by 4,000 tonnes and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is just part of the larger Gove Optimization project, which will boost production by 100,000 tonnes by the end of 2004 (as reported Dec31/03). In 2002, record production levels at the Gove refinery helped offset the decrease in production due to the sale of the Jamaican operations in the second quarter of 2001.

Alcan Inc. (TSX:AL) is warning of a 20 to 25 per cent boost in the US$1.5-billion cost of expanding and upgrading the Gove alumina refinery in northern Australia, citing "tight" construction market conditions. The startup is still expected in the first quarter of 2007, consistent with the original 27-month schedule, Montreal-based Alcan said Friday. "The overall financial return on the Gove expansion and upgrade remain highly attractive," said Jacynthe Cote, CEO of Alcan Bauxite and Alumina.
(See Canadian Press: Alcan warns of 20% to 25% boost in US$1.5 billion cost of expanding Australian refinery )