Alcoa Corporation has announced that construction will soon begin on a project to increase the casting capabilities at its Deschambault smelter in Canada to include standard ingots.
The new casting equipment will be constructed in an existing building, with the project fully complete in the first quarter of 2023. The output from the approximately $8 million return-seeking capital investment will complement the site’s two existing vertical casting pits, which exclusively cast T-bar ingots.
Adding standard ingot casting to the site’s capabilities will allow greater flexibility for alloying in smaller batches to meet customer needs for value-add products such as foundry alloys for the automotive industry. Each standard ingot weighs approximately 10.5 kilograms.
“We are working directly with a customer to bring this production capacity online to meet specific needs in the North American market,” said Kelly Thomas, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. “Providing this increased capability at Deschambault is a direct result of collaboration with our location and our customers, and we are proud to see this work get underway.”
Earlier this year, the Deschambault smelter, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, completed the installation of additional electrical infrastructure that will allow it to continue to creep its production. The smelter has a nameplate capacity of 287,000 metric tons of aluminium per year.
Image 1: Louis Langlois, President of Alcoa Canada; Pascal Rochette, General Manager of the Deschambault smelter; and Vincent Letellier, Casthouse Manager at the Deschambault smelter.
Source: www.aluminiumtoday.com
