The multinational mining and metallurgical company Rio Tinto announced the full restoration of the capacity of the Kitimat aluminum plant located in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The company in 2021 was idle for two months during the strike. But it took 17 months to bring its capacity to the design 432 thousand tons per year. The previous time the plant was operating at maximum capacity in 2018.
After the strike was completed, the utilization of Kitimat production lines decreased to no more than 25% due to labor safety problems and an emergency shutdown. Molten metal has frozen in some electrolysis cells.
Rio Tinto says Kitimat will play an important role in its aluminum business. The company receives electricity from hydroelectric power plants and, accordingly, can produce metal with lower carbon dioxide emissions.