ABI aluminum cast house catches fire

First responders are fighting a blaze this morning at Alcoa's ABI primary aluminum smelter in Bécancour, Quebec.

The fire started in the facility's cast house and all employees are safe, Alcoa told Argus.

The company said it was too early to determine the impact on production.

ABI has one of the largest nameplate capacities of any primary aluminum smelter in North America, but its actual output has been cut back multiple times over the past year and a half following labor disputes.

The latest curtailment happened in December when the last of the facility's three potlines was cut in half following "retirements and departments" among the non-union workers running the smelter.

As of early April, the United Steelworkers Local 9700, representing the 1,030 locked-out union employees, were still unsatisfied with the latest proposed contract. The plant's management (75pc Alcoa and 25pc Rio-Tinto) first locked the workers out in January 2018.

When fully operational, the smelter has a total rated capacity of about 400,000t/yr. It produces P1020 primary aluminum in addition to primary extrusion billet.