The multinational Rio Tinto will announce on Monday the construction of an aluminum smelter in Jonquière, in northeastern Quebec. The value of the project would be between 1 and 1.5 billion dollars, learned La Presse.
The company invited the media to “participate in the announcement of a major investment” in Jonquière on Monday morning. The investment, the email says, “fits into the company’s vision for the future of its aluminum operations in Quebec.”
Rio Tinto’s global chief executive, Jakob Stausholm, will attend, the invitation says. Also on hand will be Sebastien Ross, Director of Atlantic Operations for Rio Tinto Aluminum, and Donat Pearson, President of the National Union of Aluminum Employees at Arvida. Representatives of the government of Quebec and Canada will also participate, most likely Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy.
According to our information, the project to be announced will be the one involving the addition of 96 tanks of AP60 technology, which could produce approximately 150,000 tonnes of aluminum. Several hundred jobs will be created or maintained at Rio Tinto, not to mention construction jobs.
The company built a 38-vessel AP60 center in 2013, but low aluminum prices, among other things, pushed back the promised two subsequent phases of about 96 vessels each by several years. The project on Monday will increase the volume of aluminum production with the AP60 to approximately 200,000 tonnes (134 vats).
During the conference, there will also be talk of the possible gradual closure of the old smelter center West of Arvida, which is very polluting.