;rm Hatch, based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, to lead a joint engineering, procurement and construction venture dubbed SLH. ;e CA$1.3 billion project scope
included construction of 38 smelting pots with an aluminum production capacity of
60,000 tonnes per year, a very large electrical substation and a gas treatment center.
Introducing the new technology as part of a project of this scale required careful
planning. ;e team relied on detailed preliminary studies to develop every aspect of
its project plan, including how it would transfer information from RTA’s R&D lab
in France to how it could most e;ciently build the components, says André Noël,
project manager, Hatch, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
“Building a new technology, you need to understand it very well,” he says. “So we
really took the time to de;ne what had to be done.”
During its initial research, the team identi;ed six aluminum smelter reference
projects, analyzed the applicable lessons learned and incorporated those lessons
into the AP60 project plan. ;e team even spoke to people who had worked on the
reference projects to better understand risks and avoid setbacks.
“Before giving anyone
a contract, we would
meet them and explain
the strategic goal we
were pursuing. The
hardest part was making
sure they had the right
attitude and would help
build the culture we
wanted for this project.”
PH
OT
O
BY
PI
ER
RE
P
AR
ADI
S
—Michel Charron
