Brazil CBA starts Latam's largest aluminium smelter

Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio (CBA), part of Votorantim group, opened on Tuesday a 70,000 tonne-per-year primary aluminium expansion at Aluminio, Sao Paulo state, making it Latin America's biggest producer. Production is due to rise to 448,200 tonnes in 2007 from 405,000 tonnes last year, and will reach full capacity of 475,000 tonnes in 2008.
A further expansion would raise output to 615,000 tonnes in 2011 and maintain a 9.6 percent annual growth of output. In the last five years the company has invested 3.5 billion reais (US $1.6 billion) on expanding production capacity. The company is one of Brazil's biggest users of electrical energy, but analysts say that it is at risk from energy rationing as occurred in 2001 due to insufficient energy investment.
To prevent a possible shortage, CBA invested 1.2 billion reais ($562 million) in its own electricity generation. It is 60 percent self-sufficient following the start-up in 2002 by the Votorantim Group of the Machadinho and Piraju hydroelectric power stations.