Orbite launches $45-million in Quebec alumina plant upgrades
by Canadian Manufacturing Daily Staff
Work will be completed before the end of 2012, with commercial production slated to begin in early 2013
Cap-Chat, Que.—Orbite Aluminae, Inc., has broken ground on a $45-million upgrade to its high-purity alumina (HPA) plant in the Gaspe region on the St. Lawrence Gulf.
The Cap-Chat plant has been used as a pilot facility to develop patented Orbite technology for the manufacturing of smelter-grade alumina for aluminum products since 2009, according to Orbite.
In Quebec alone, the demand for the material has grown to more than six-million tonnes annually, the company said.
As a result, the plant is undergoing conversion to a state-of-the-art high-purity alumina production plant, carrying a $45-million price tag—an actual investment of$26- to $30-million after approved tax credits, according to the company.
Work will be completed before the end of 2012, with commercial production slated to begin in early 2013.
Orbite estimates the plant will produce three tonnes of high-purity alumina per day in the 12 months that follow the facility’s opening.
