Rio Tinto: Rio Tinto modernises Saguenay port facilities for safer and more efficient operations

Rio Tinto is investing C$105 million to modernise its Port-Alfred Port Facilities in Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. The investment will improve the safety and efficiency of receiving and unloading operations for raw materials used to produce aluminium at Rio Tinto’s operations in the region.

In order to adapt the infrastructure to the dimensions of modern vessels, a new platform will be built at the end of the Duncan wharf to facilitate docking. The Powell wharf will also be redeveloped to receive and unload alumina. This work includes the addition of a new unloading system, the dismantling of part of a warehouse and the renovation of the ship docking infrastructures.

Sébastien Ross, Managing Director of Quebec Operations for Rio Tinto said: “This major investment will allow our employees to work in an even safer environment, thanks to the modernisation of our wharves and alumina unloading system at our Port-Alfred Port Facilities which have been in operation for 95 years. Since the beginning of the project, Rio Tinto has been in dialogue with the Neighborghood Committee and has worked continuously with the various stakeholders to continue its commitment to safety, the environment and the community”.

Construction will take place over two years, from the beginning of 2021 to the end of 2022.

The project is expected to generate around C$60 million in the Quebec economy and about a hundred workers will be involved at the peak of the work.

In operation since 1926, Rio Tinto’s Port Facilities handle the unloading of approximately 125 ships per year and the transportation of more than five million tons of raw materials required for the production of aluminum in the Saguenay – Lac-St-Jean region.