Deschambault Smelter
Located on the Chemin du Roy, some 60 kilometres from Quebec City, the village of Deschambault-Grondines overlooks the St. Lawrence River. In 1989, the Alumax Group took on the daunting challenge of building the Deschambault Smelter in an area whose fragility and value made environmental performance a top priority. In operation since 1992, the smelter reached its full capacity in 1993 with an annual production of 215,000 metric tons of aluminum. In 1998, Alcoa acquired the Deschambault Smelter. Over the years, thanks to continuous improvements in equipment, processes and work methods, production capacity climbed to 260,000 metric tons. Alcoa has entered into talks with the Government of Quebec to expand the Deschambault Smelter and double its production capacity.
The Deschambault Smelter’s technical performance is an international benchmark. This success is due in part to its avant-garde management techniques, which have placed it among the top 100 employers in Canada according to Maclean’s magazine. The smelter was the first aluminum producer in Quebec to achieve ISO 9002 certification in 1996, and the first to obtain ISO 14001 certification in Canada back in 1997. The smelter’s environmental performance has earned it the ICI ON RECYCLE! designation from Recyc-Québec. It has also received an EcoGESte award for its reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and an Excellence Award from the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment for its efforts in reducing pollution. Significant effort is dedicated to training, work organization, process optimization and teamwork. This team is enthusiastic and thrives on the challenges of continuous improvement which, in fact, lies at the very heart of Deschambault’s mission and environmental policy.
Start-up: September 1992
Construction cost: $1 billion
Production: T-ingots
Production capacity: 260,000 MT / year
Port facilities: Trois-Rivières
Certifications: ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004
Economic spin-offs for Québec: $361 million invested in salaries, taxes and goods and services, including $111 million in the county of Portneuf
|
|
Aluminum is made of people
 go
|
|
