Alcan’s Canadian history

1900 — A contract for hydroelectric power is signed with Shawinigan Water & Power Co. in Shawinigan, Que. A year later, the first ingot, weighing 716 kilograms, is produced.

1902 — Pittsburgh Reduction Co. (later Alcoa) is chartered as Northern Aluminum Co., to manage, purchase or build all facilities and acquire all the patents necessary for the manufacture and sale of alloys throughout Canada.

1909 — Northern Aluminium (now known as British Alcan Aluminium) is incorporated.

1916 — Rolling mill operations begin at Toronto Works.

1925 — On July 8, Northern Aluminum is renamed Aluminum Company of Canada.

1928 — Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) divests most of its interests outside the U.S. Aluminium Limited is incorporated under Canadian law to assume control of most of these interests, and thereby becomes the parent company of Aluminum Company of Canada.

1940 — The sheet and extrusion plant opens at Kingston Works in Ontario.

1941 — Construction begins on a second aluminum smelter at Shawinigan to complement the first one, built in 1900. The first smelter is converted into an expanded wire and cable plant in 1945. Later that year, the Shipshaw No. 2 power plant is completed, with an installed capacity of 896 megawatts.

1942 — The Beauharnois smelter is built at Beauharnois, Que. Operations cease in 1945 and resume in 1951.

1944 — In March, total aluminum production at all Quebec smelters reaches a wartime peak of 1,400 tonnes per day.

1945 — The trade name Alcan is officially registered in March. The Circuit Court of Appeals in the U.S. renders the decision that Aluminium Limited had become, by 1935, totally free from any connection with Alcoa.

1951 — Construction begins on the Kitimat smelter and Kemano power complex in B.C. Operations start at Kemano in 1954.

1954 — With electrical power from Kemano, the Kitimat smelter officially starts production.

1956 — Construction begins on the Chute-des-Passes power project on the Pribonca River, to be completed in 1960.

1961 — Interest is acquired in Supreme Aluminum Industries, Toronto, which assumes control of the cooking utensil business of Aluminum Goods Ltd. Alcan’s interest is sold in 1981.

1963 — Majority interest is acquired in Scarborough, Ont.-based Roslyn Metal Products, which is renamed Alcan Building Products in 1966. Also, sheet production starts at the Centre Plant of Kingston Works, which is later renamed the Williamson Plant.

1966 — The corporate name Aluminium Limited is changed to Alcan Aluminium Limited in English and Alcan Aluminium Limite in French.

1969 — Alcan acquires Canada Foils, a manufacturer of flexible packaging located in Scarborough, Ont. The company becomes a division of Alcan Canada Products Limited in 1972.

1971 — In Bracebridge, Ont., an insulated wire and cable plant opens.

1973 — A continuous rod rolling mill starts production at Lapointe Works in Quebec.

1977 — Construction begins on the St. Augustin, Que., cable mill.

1978 — Construction begins on the first phase of the 171,000-tonne Grande-Baie smelter in the Saguenay/ Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec. The first phase of production starts in December 1980.

1980 — Construction begins on a rod mill at Richmond, B.C.

1983 — On Sept. 14, Alcan officially opens Maison Alcan, Alcan Aluminium’s new world headquarters in Montreal. And operations start on the Grande-Baie smelter’s second and third potlines.

1984 — Alcan Canada Products closes its extrusion facilities in Kingston.

1985 — Alcan Enterprises is formed to manage Alcan’s extrusion, foil conversion, wire and cable, building products and other downstream businesses in Canada. And Alcan Rolled Products Co. is established to manage Alcan’s rolled product operations in Canada.

1987 — A “corporate arrangement” results in Aluminum Company of Canada changing its name to Alcan Aluminium Limited and becoming both the publicly owned parent company and the principal holding company of the Alcan Group; Alcan Canada Foils is sold; construction begins on Phase I of the Laterrire smelter project in Quebec. In 1988, construction begins on the remaining three phases.

1989 — Alcan acquires all outstanding shares of Hunter Douglas Canada, a manufacturer and supplier of residential aluminum siding products.

1990 — Welding wire and metallizer wire lines are shut down at Alcan Wire & Cable’s Saint-Maurice plant in Shawinigan; Alcan Chemicals completes its acquisition of shares in Handy Chemicals of La Prairie, Que., which manufactures specialty chemicals for both the concrete and pulp and paper industries. The subsidiary is sold in 1998. Saguenay Works of Alcan Rolled Products Company marks five years without a lost-time accident, setting a new record among Alcan’s North American operations.

1994 — Alcan sells its North American extrusion operations; Alcan Building Products divisions in North America are sold to Genstar Capital.

1996 — Alcan sells its foundry alloy plant in Guelph, Ont.

1998 — Hydro-Qubec agrees to supply Alcan with a 350-megawatt (MW) block of energy, which will significantly affect Alcan’s aluminum smelter and modernization program in Quebec; meanwhile, Alcan agrees to make electrical capacity from its operations in the province available to Hydro-Qubec; construction begins on a 375,000-tonne capacity aluminum smelter in Alma, Que.

2001 — The company’s legal name is changed to Alcan Inc. in order to reflect its increasingly diversified product mix and global character.

2002 — Alcan purchases the Socit gnrale de financement du Qubec’s 20% interest in the Aluminerie Alouette consortium, which operates a modern 243,000-tonne aluminum smelter in Sept-les, Que. Later in the year, the acquisition of Corus Group’s 20% interest in the consortium brings Alcan’s participation to 40%; Alcan marks one hundred years since the incorporation of the Northern Aluminum Co.