Rio Tinto Alcan will complete the modernization of its Kitimat smelter in British Columbia but won't add significant new growth projects "for the foreseeable future," CEO Jacynthe Cote said Tuesday.
Cote told an investor seminar in Australia that the revamped Kitimat smelter will be completed by the end of 2014. The transformation will reduce the cost of producing aluminum, but the company needs to continue cutting costs because of low aluminum prices.
"We have come a long way on our transformation journey. ... But we still have more to do to ensure that Rio Tinto's aluminum business delivers greater value to shareholders," she said in a webcast seminar.
Cote said other projects already underway will be completed and highlighted the AP60 pilot project in Quebec that produces 40 per cent more aluminum per cell than earlier technology.
"But you shouldn't expect any significant investment in new alumina or aluminum growth projects for the foreseeable future, given the challenging market conditions," she said.
"There's no Canada specific impact," spokesman Illtud Harri said from London. "It's a general trend across the mining industry after a time of higher capex and higher forecast on growth is changing to more a focus on productivity, cost reduction and cash conservation due to being a different economic environment."
Harri said Rio Tinto has no plans to sell the Alcan operations, after abandoning plans to sell the Pacific aluminum assets.
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