Alcoa (AA.N) finalises Iceland smelter talks
Date: 16-Dec-02
Country: DENMARK
The company said it had finished work on its contracts with Iceland's
national power producer Landsvirkjun, Iceland's Ministry of Industry
and the municipal authorities at the construction site, but the deals
would not be signed until the beginning of next year.
"We have reached an agreement on all issues regarding power supply,
investment, sites and harbour rights," Pall Magnusson, political
advisor of Iceland's Industry Minister Valgerdur Sverrisdottir, told
Reuters.
"Lawyers are now reviewing the contract text, and we expect to put our
initials on them before the year is over."
Alcoa hopes to begin production at the smelter in 2007.
The new smelter would nearly double aluminium smelter capacity in the
North Atlantic island, where the abundant resources of geothermal
energy and hydro-electricity have attracted metals producers to set up
operations.
The smelter and the hydropower plant Landsvirkjun plans to build to
power it have caused controversy in Iceland due to environmental
concerns. The plant will dam two of the country's largest glacial
rivers and turn valleys and canyons in the country's highlands into
reservoirs.
