Our operations

Rio Tinto Alcan's worldwide operations give Rio Tinto the top global ranking in bauxite and aluminium production.  It also has a number of projects in place for the Group to also become the global leader in alumina.

Rio Tinto Alcan owns, operates or has interests in seven bauxite mines and deposits, six alumina refineries, six specialty aluminas plants, 26 aluminium smelters and 13 power generating plants, nine of them hydroelectric. 

Rio Tinto Alcan also operates 120 facilities for the production of engineered products mainly for aerospace, marine, mass transportation, automotive, building construction, display, electricity transmission, wind-power generation, recreation and leisure applications.

The Bauxite and Alumina business unit focuses on large scale, cost effective assets. Besides the Weipa and Ely bauxite deposits in Queensland, Australia, it operates, in whole or in part, mines at Gove in the Northern Territory, Porto Trombetas in Brazil, Accra in Ghana and Conakry in Guinea. It also has two alumina refineries in Gladstone, Queensland; as well as another at Gove; Sao Luis, Brazil; Quebec by Jonquière, Canada; and Gardanne, France.

The Primary Metal business unit comprises smelters that use alumina to produce aluminium. It has the industry's largest share of low-cost production capacity, the most advanced smelting technology, the ability to generate about half of its own power needs, equipment sales, engineering services and aluminium trading operations, anode and cathode production facilities and aluminium fluoride plants. Rio Tinto Alcan smelters span the world, located in Australia, Canada, Cameroon, China, France, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, the UK and the US, with new build projects in Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The Engineered Products business unit is an interconnected network of fabricated and semi-fabricated aluminium and composite businesses that share key resources, processes and technologies, as well as serving common markets including aerospace, automotive, mass transportation, marine, building, electrical, beverage can packaging and other specialty segments. It is the number one supplier of value added aluminium products to Europe's aerospace industry and number two worldwide.