San Francisco, July 11, 2008—Bechtel today announced it signed a $200 million engineering, procurement, and construction management agreement with Rio Tinto Alcan for the Kitimat Smelter modernization project in Kitimat, British Columbia.
"Bechtel is honored to be selected for this project," said Andy Greig, president of Bechtel Mining & Metals. "This is an exciting opportunity for us and we look forward to being a part of Rio Tinto plans for the future."
“Rio Tinto Alcan is pleased to announce the signing of this contract, one more critical step towards the realization of the Kitimat project. Bechtel brings together a unique combination of expertise, world-wide presence, and project experience,” said Jacynthe Côté, president and chief executive officer, Primary Metal, Rio Tinto Alcan.
The proposed $2.5 billion Kitimat Modernization Project would increase production capacity at the smelter by 40 percent, taking it up to 400,000 tons per year and increase Rio Tinto annual global primary aluminum production capacity by more than 3 percent. This will make Kitimat not only one of Rio Tinto largest wholly owned smelters, but also one of the three largest in North America. Kitimat’s aluminum production capacity will increase by 125,000 tons using clean and renewable hydroelectric power from the Kemano power station and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 40 percent per year. First metal from the modernized smelter is expected in 2011.
For more information about the project, read the Rio Tinto Alcan press release.
About Bechtel
Bechtel is one of the world’s premier engineering, construction, and project management companies. Since its founding in 1898, Bechtel has worked on more than 22,000 projects in 140 countries. Today, our 42,500 employees are teamed with customers, partners, and suppliers on hundreds of projects in nearly 50 countries. For more information about Bechtel visit www.bechtel.com.
About Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto is a leading international mining group headquartered in the United Kingdom, combining Rio Tinto plc, a London listed company, and Rio Tinto Limited, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Rio Tinto’s business is finding, mining, and processing mineral resources. Major products are aluminum, copper, diamonds, energy (coal and uranium), gold, industrial minerals (borax, titanium dioxide, salt, talc) and iron ore. Activities span the world but are strongly represented in Australia and North America with significant businesses in South America, Asia, Europe and southern Africa. For more information about Rio Tinto visit www.riotinto.com.