Aluminerie Alouette, one of the most efficient primary aluminium producers of the world, has stated in 2020 review statement that: "Aluminerie Alouette in 2020 broke its record of all time with an annual production of 620,706 tons of aluminium. It was a special year in many ways for the largest aluminium smelter in the Americas. Employees and partners have worked hard to exceed the 2016 performance in aluminium production.”
The previous record, set in 2016, was 608,964 tonnes. The increase in production with the same facilities is linked to the good results of a large-scale project that began in 2019, namely the construction of a forced-air network to cool the AP40 technology tanks. This $ 100M modernization project, completed in November 2020, maximizes energy use. This was the Alouette Smelter's largest investment since completing Phase II.
According to recently appointed Alouette President and Chief Executive Officer Claude Gosselin, “We’re proud of the work accomplished by our employees and partners. Despite the pandemic and market ups and downs, their efforts contributed to pushing production beyond forecasts. That takes real teamwork! We have to keep on showing resilience: 2021 won’t be easy. Together, we can come out of it bigger, more competitive and, above all, healthy.”
Aluminium from Sept-Îles was supplied majorly to the United States, where it is mainly transformed into transport vehicles, packaging products and various infrastructures.
2021 is still filled with challenges for the Pointe-Noire/Sept-Îles smelter. "It is together that we will be able to come out even bigger, more competitive and above all healthy," he said.
Alouette plans to invest $ 60M in capital projects in 2021. As it prepares to celebrate its first 30 years of operations in 2022, Alouette has seen some members of its family opt for a well-deserved retirement. About 50 employees have retired over the past year and a number of their co-workers will also be leaving over the next few months. Ensuring knowledge transfers, maintaining a solid level of expertise and experience and recruiting key team members are therefore among the challenges for the coming years. Already, close to 75 new employees joined the team in 2020.
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