San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. has won a $200 million contract for the engineering, procurement and construction management of the US$2.5 billion expansion of Rio Tinto Alcan's Kitimat aluminum smelter.
Bechtel has been involved in the project since June 2007 when it was awarded an initial contract to conduct the preliminary engineering, feasibility and construction pre-work of the Kitimat modernization project.
The new contract is part of the upgrade to the 54-year-old Kitimat smelter that will expand the facility's annual production capacity by 125,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes using electricity from Rio Tinto Alcan's Kemano power station.
In addition to a construction site office, Bechtel will have engineering offices in Vancouver and Montreal for the project.
Production from the smelter expansion is expected to begin in 2011.