Investing in the future

When BC Works opened in 1954, it was the world’s largest smelter powered by hydroelectricity. Today, following a C$6 billion investment to modernise the smelter, the aluminium we produce here has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world. The upgrade, completed in 2016, included installing smelting equipment that uses our state-of-the-art AP Technology, making BC Works not only more efficient and commercially competitive but also cleaner: we now produce twice as much aluminium as we did previously, with half the greenhouse gas emissions. 

Benefits of the modernised smelter, one of the largest private construction projects in British Columbia’s history, include:

• energy efficiency
• leading-edge digital monitoring and computer control systems
• revolutionary efficiency and performance in dry scrubbing (cleaning) systems
• high levels of material recovery to maximise raw material yield and recycling opportunities.

Our Kemano Powerhouse receives water from the Nechako Reservoir via a single tunnel that is more than 65 years old, and is even today the largest high-pressure hydropower generation facility in North America. In 2017, we announced an investment of C$600 million in a second tunnel at Kemano to ensure that the power to our smelter remains secure and sustainable.

A tunnel boring machine, named tl’ughus by the Cheslatta Carrier Nation after a legendary giant monster snake, cut 7.6 kilometres through the rock in remote mountains over 30 months, completing the route for a 16 kilometre tunnel that was started in the early 1990s. The project was completed in May 2022.

Environment

In 1999, BC Works became the first industrial facility in British Columbia to obtain what is called a “multi-media environmental permit” from the provincial government. This permit sets standards of operation and requires annual reporting on a variety of performance measures: air emissions, ambient air quality, effluents, groundwater, vegetation and waste management. The yearly performance of the smelter is published in our operation’s Annual Environmental Report.

We are focused on minimising the impacts of our operation on the environment. Our Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) program, which is based on an Adaptive Management Approach that commits us to extensive monitoring, regular reporting and taking measurable actions, as needed, monitors and reports on sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions from our smelter.

We also host a consultation community group, the Kitimat Public Advisory Committee (KPAC), which meets on a quarterly basis and reviews BC Works’ environmental performance and business operations. 

From 2019 to 2024, we partnered with the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) to establish the NSERC/Rio Tinto Senior Industrial Research Chair in Climate Change and Water Security. This C$1.5 million dollar project advanced research programs in the region and provided first-hand learning opportunities for students. It included water temperature monitoring in regulated and unregulated sites across the Nechako Watershed and a comprehensive weather station in place to monitor storms, and record the temperature, humidity, snow depth, wind speed and direction, solar radiation and barometric pressure.