Rio Tinto Alcan has canceled its planned 40,000-ton enlargement of the aluminum smelter in Straumsvík by Hafnarfjördur, as the company’s CEO, Jacynthe Coté, announced to Iceland’s Minister of Industry Össur Skarphédinsson on Wednesday.
The smelter in Straumsvík. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
Rio Tinto Alcan had planned to undertake the smelter enlargement next year and the initiative was welcomed by Iceland’s government since it would have created jobs for a host of construction workers, engineers and designers, Fréttabladid reports.
The decision may also have an impact on the plans of the National Power Company, Landsvirkjun, on a new power plant by Búdarháls and consequently also on Verne Holdings’s planned data center by Keflavík International Airport, which was supposed to be powered by the Búdarháls plant.
According to Fréttabladid, Alcoa recently postponed its plans for an aluminum smelter by Bakki near Húsavík in north Iceland.
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