Alcan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Alcan (ALaska CANada) is also one of the common names for the Alaska Highway that connects Dawson Creek, British Columbia, with Fairbanks, Alaska.
| Alcan Inc. | |
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| Type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1902 |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Key people | Richard Evans, President and CEO |
| Industry | Aerospace, Mass Transportation, Building, Construction, Packaging, Aluminium, Alumina, Automotive |
| Products | Aluminas, aluminium sheet, extrusion billet, rod and remelt ingot, alloys, cable, packaging |
| Revenue |  $20.320 billion USD (2005) |
| Net income | $129 million USD (2005) |
| Employees | 70,000 |
| Website | http://www.alcan.com |
Alcan Inc. is Canada's largest aluminum company and the world's second largest behind Alcoa (however Alcan is largest by sales). Alcan mines bauxite (aluminum ore) and makes and recycles aluminum sheets, foil, wire and cable, and parts for doors, windows and auto parts. Alcan has over 470 facilities in 55 countries and sells to the packaging, transportation and construction industries.
In 1982 the company acquired the British Aluminium Company, renaming the operation British Alcan. In 1999, Alcan made a failed attempt to make a three-way merger between it and Algroup (Alusuisse Lonza Group) of Switzerland and Pechiney of France. The proposed merger was blocked by the European Commission due to fears of anti-competition. After the deal fell through, Alcan acquired Algroup in 2000. Then in 2003, Alcan acquired Pechiney, completing the original three-way merger plan of 1999.
Alcan is based in Montreal, Quebec and had revenues of US$25 billion and 70,000 employees worldwide in 2004.
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[edit] Corporate governance
Current members of the board of directors of Alcan are: Roland Berger, L. Denis Desautels, Travis Engen, Yves Fortier, Jean-Paul Jacamon, William R. Loomis Jr., Yves Mansion, Christine Morin-Postel, H. Onno Ruding, Guy Saint-Pierre, Gerhard Schulmeyer, Paul M. Tellier, and Milton K. Wong.
[edit] British Columbia
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This article or section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article or replace this tag with a more specific message. This article has been tagged since December 2005. (help, talk) |
The Provincial Government of British Columbia had performed extensive evaluations of the potential for hydroelectric generating capacity late in the 1920s, identifying the Eutsuk/Ootsa/Nechako drainage basin as a potential for creating a sizable reservoir. Unable to finance the development, the government sought a private industry to underwrite the construction and development of power generation. The Aluminum Company of Canada was interested in the project, as smelting aluminum is an energy intensive process. However, the company was not in a position to take on the project until after the completion of World War II, when the post war boom and demand for light metal made the expenditure viable.
In the 1950s, after signing an agreement with the British Columbia government for property and water rights, Alcan undertook the Kitimat/Kemano Project, the damming and reversal of the Nechako River drainage basin. It was arguably one of the most ambitious engineering projects of the 20th century, because it required not only the construction of Kenny Dam, but also the boring of a 16-kilometre-long tunnel straight through Mt. Dubose of the Coast Mountains to the generating plant which was also built into the mountain.
The power generated was delivered to the newly constructed smelter located at the mouth of the Kitimat River, approx. 80 kilometers across the mountains, carried by a custom built, twin circuit transmission line. Further up the Kitimat River, the townsite of Kitimat was carved out of the old growth forest. The company invested over 500 million dollars and employeed over 35,000 workers over the five years required to build an earthen dam, a hydroelectric generating staion inside the mountain, followed by a small community at Kemano, a 250,000 tpy aluminum smelter, a deepwater port open year round, a complete townsite designed for a population of 50,000 and a paved highway to the outside world. The project opened the northwest to heavy industry and provided substantial employment and growth opportunities. As a result of Alcan's project in Kitimat, other industry has developed in the Kitimat valley.
The project was a marvel of the time, setting innumerable records and changing the face of the province, but it was not without its controversies. Aboriginal groups, farmers and residents of the Nechako lakes district as well as politicians have long opposed the contractual release of provincial resources with the proceeds going to a Corporation. Many individuals and groups protested the flooding caused by the creation of the new reservoir, with the destruction of homesteads, villages, burial grounds and millions of board feet of prime timber, as well as the disruption of prime fish habitat on the Nechako and Fraser rivers.
In the late 1980s, the company began work on Kemano Completion Project which would have doubled the generating capacity of the reservoir system. The Provincial Government of the day called a halt to the project for a variety of reasons, Alcan had already bored a second tunnel through the mountain and extended the generating station within the mountain. With an investment of over 500 million in the project, the company and government went to court. Alcan eventually settled with the government by signing the 1997 KCP agreement.
In 1998, Alcan began cutting production at the smelter and selling the excess power to Powerex. Kitimat and Terrace's communities both became angered by the production cut and the export of power because it represented a loss of jobs and continuing decreased production of aluminum. While the company did not reduce it's workforce as a direct result of the cutback, the overall number of employees has been shrinking steadily and as a result, businesses have been disappearing, schools have been closing and property values are in decline.
As of July, 2005, the towns of Kitimat is suing Alcan for violation of the contract drafted in the 1950s. The contract was to allow Alcan to come into British Columbia and create hydro-electric power using a public resource. The power was to be sent to Kitimat, to create jobs through aluminum production, and the remainder to Terrace, British Columbia, and neighboring towns using the existing provincial power grid. The contention of a concerned citizens' group named Save the Northwest is that Alcan is no longer interested in aluminum production and would rather sell electricity for a profit. Under the terms of the 1997 KCP agreement, the company was to expand or upgrade its operations in the Northwest to ensure sustainable employment for British Columbians.
Alcan announced in August 2006 that it will commit US$1.8 Billion to upgrade the Kitimat Almuninum plant. This will involve modernization of the potlines to increce production from current ~250.000 tons/yr to 400.000 tons/yr. The power use will increase and only power deemed not sufficiently reliable will be sold off. The new investment has guarenteed Kitimat's existence for another 60 yrs.
