May 25 2004
Alcoa has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which Alcoa and the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago will build a state-of-the-art, low emission, environmentally friendly aluminum smelter with a capacity of at least 250,000 metric tons per year (mtpy) in Trinidad.
The new smelter and related facilities, including a power plant, a new anode plant and downstream, fabricated opportunities, is projected to cost in excess of $1 billion US Dollars. The exact size and cost for the overall venture will be determined when the project plan is finalized. The new smelter will utilize power produced by Trinidad and Tobago's vast natural gas fields, which will then be converted into low-cost electricity for the smelter and the national grid, serving the growth in demand of residential, commercial and industrial consumers.
It is expected that upon completion, the smelter would permanently employ approximately 575 people directly, with indirect employment of at least three times that number. Employment during the two-year construction period for the smelter is expected to average approximately 1,000 additional jobs.
The Trinidad and Tobago smelter would be Alcoa's third major primary products facility in the Caribbean basin and the company's second Greenfield smelter in 20 years, the other being in Iceland, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2005. The company currently operates through Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals -- a global alliance between Alcoa and Alumina Ltd., with Alcoa holding 60 percent -- Jamalco, a 1,250,000 mtpy alumina refinery in Clarendon, Jamaica, and has bauxite mining, alumina refining and hydropower facilities in Suriname. Four tons of bauxite can traditionally be refined into two tons of alumina, which can then be smelted to produce one ton of aluminum.
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