The Hemisphere: Orders for Kitimat

• Share

After earmarking 60% of their production for defense and Government stock piling, aluminum's Big Three in the U.S. (Alcoa, Reynolds, Kaiser) cannot meet booming U.S. civilian demand. No foreign competitor knows this better than Canada's Aluminium Ltd., world's biggest producer of primary aluminum ingot. Its salesmen have been calling on the Big Three. Last week, Aluminium Ltd. closed deals with Alcoa and Kaiser to supply them with a whopping 713,000 metric tons of aluminum during the next five years. Price: more than $300 million.

In lending a hand across the border, Aluminium Ltd. also helped itself, now has an assured market for the output of its Alcan subsidiary's huge $550 million Kitimat plant in northern British Columbia, slated to start production next year. In view of the new orders, Aluminium Ltd. has already authorized additional work at Kitimat that will double its smelting facilities.