At a glance

Discover the history of aluminum here and around the world by exploring our chronological table illustrating the emergence of this unique metal as well as its current importance in Canada.

DO WE SAY “ALUMINIUM” OR “ALUMINUM” IN ENGLISH?
Both spellings are used, depending on whether you are in Europe or America. However, the mystery of the origins of this particularity of the English language persists. In 1807, British chemist Sir Humphry Davy first christened this metal alumium but shortly after changed it to aluminum, and later to aluminium. In fact, the spelling with the added “i” to create aluminium corresponds to the spelling of other elements, such as potassium, sodium and calcium, also coined by Davy. The Americans preferred the original spelling. Some claim that the American preference for “aluminum” (with one “i” instead of two) is due to an error made by a clerk at the American Patent Office when transcribing Charles M. Hall’s patent in 1886. Apparently the clerk simply neglected to record the second “i”. Others state that it is Hall himself who spelled the word incorrectly as “aluminum” in an advertising pamphlet; in fact, the co-inventor of the electrolysis process had, until then, always written “aluminium” with two “i”s.

1807 – Sir Humphry Davy (Great Britain) discovers the metal, but does not manage to isolate the element.

1821 – Pierre Berthier (France) discovers a material that contains 52% aluminum oxide, bauxite, named after the village of Baux, close to where the discovery was made.

1827 – Friedrich Wöhler (Germany) is the first scientific researcher to isolate aluminum.

1854 – Henri Sainte-Claire Deville (France), inspired by the work of the German Fiedrich Wöhler, produces the first ingot of pure aluminum.

1860 – The Sainte-Claire Deville process is transferred to the Salindres plant (France), the only one in the world to regularly produce aluminum; the plant closes in 1888 due to the discovery of another, less expensive process.

1886 – The simultaneous discovery of the electrolysis process by Paul Héroult (France) and Charles Martin Hall (United States), commonly referred to as the Hall-Héroult process, enabling the large-scale production of aluminum.

1888 – Charles Martin Hall, the industrialist Alfred Hunt, and a group of businessmen found the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (PRC), which would become the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in 1907.

1901 – Aluminum production begins in Canada at the Pittsburgh Reduction Company plant in Shawinigan (Quebec).

1902 – The Pittsburgh Reduction Company renames its Canadian subsidiary, the Northern Aluminum Company, which becomes the Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925.

1914 - 1918 – During the First World War, the aluminum industry experiences prodigious growth; world production almost doubles, rising from 69,000 to 131,000 tonnes.

1925 – The Aluminum Company of Canada constructs the Arvida smelter and gives birth to the city of the same name, inspired by the company president’s name (ARthur VIning DAvis). Today, Arvida is part of the City of Saguenay.

1939 - 1945 – During the Second World War, world production triples, rising from 687,000 to 2,200,222 tonnes between 1939 and 1943.

1945 – The Aluminium Company of Canada is officially registered in March 1945 under the trade name Alcan.

1946 - 1952 – After the war, world production of aluminum drops by one-half in 1946, but this decline does not last long; some six years later, world aluminum production almost triples, rising from 774,000 to 2,032,000 tonnes between 1946 and 1952.

1954 – Alcan sets up a primary aluminum smelter in Kitimat, British Columbia, the only smelter outside Quebec, as well as a hydroelectric power station in Kenamo that supplies the plant.

1955 – A second aluminum producer arrives in Quebec: The Canadian British Aluminium Company, which gives birth to the Canadian Reynolds Metals
Company. Two years later, the company builds an electrolysis plant in Baie-Comeau on the North Shore in Quebec.

1963 – The Reynolds Metals Company manufactures the first aluminum can used for Slenderella, a diet cola; in just a few years, the major soft drink manufacturers join the bandwagon and the aluminum can becomes a permanent fixture.

1977 - 1988 – Alcan builds two new smelters, one in La Baie (the Grande-Baie plant) and the other in Chicoutimi (the Laterrière plant), and inaugurates a secondary aluminum production plant in Guelph, Ontario.

1986 – The Bécancour smelter, which belongs to a consortium made up of Pechiney (France), the Société générale de financement du Québec (Canada) and Alumax (United States), starts production.

1992 – Aluminerie Alouette, located in Pointe-Noire in the Sept-Îles region, produces its first tonne of aluminum; the plant is owned by an international consortium, which includes the Société générale de financement du Québec.

1992 The Lauralco smelter, owned by Alumax, begins operating an electrolysis plant in Deschambault, in the Québec City area.

1998 – Alcoa purchases the Deschambault smelter from Alumax as well as the 25% share that Alumax holds in the Bécancour smelter.

2000 – Alcoa acquires the Canadian Reynolds Metals Company, which also owns the Baie-Comeau smelter and a 50% share of the Bécancour smelter, bringing Alcoa’s total participation to 75%, the remaining 25% is held by the French company, Pechiney.

2004 – Alcan becomes world leader of the aluminum industry by completing the acquisition of the Pechiney Group, the fourth world player in the production and transformation of aluminum.

2005 – Aluminerie Alouette, now the owner of a consortium in which Alcan holds 40% of the shares, starts up its new series of 330 cells, bringing annual production from 240,000 to 575,000 tonnes; its size makes this smelter the largest facility in the Americas and fifth in the world.

2006-2007 – Alcan starts up major projects in British Columbia and the Saguenay, Quebec, and concludes several agreements with its employees.

2007 – Alcoa makes a hostile offer to purchase Alcan, which rejects it and turns to the mining giant, Rio Tinto, whose offer is recommended by Alcan’s management; giving birth to Rio Tinto Alcan, world leader in aluminum.

2008 – As the third largest producing country in the world, in 2007, Canada produced 3,082,597 tonnes of primary metal in its 11 smelters, or approximately 8% of world production of 38,046,000 tonnes.