The air of uncertainty that has shrouded the proposed aluminium smelter at Coega for the past four years may be dissipating.

This is borne out by the revelation that Canadian aluminium giant Alcan has had a permanent office in Greenacres for more than a year.

The two-man environmental project team is headed by Lesley Mpanza, who has extensive experience in setting up such a facility through his involvement in the Hillside Smelter at Richards Bay and the Mozal smelter in Mozambique.

“It is with the hope that something is going to come up at the end of the day and we can start hauling everybody in,” he explained.

The majority of decision-making was still however via the Canadian firm’s Montreal head office.

An advertisement in yesterday’s Herald announcing an application by the company to amend the Record of Decision issued by the provincial department of economic affairs, environment and tourism also sheds further light on Alcan’s plans for the smelter.

The application relates to specific details in the final technology review report that was issued in July last year by the CSIR as part of the environmental impact assessment on the project.

The reason for the requested alterations is due largely to changes in the technology to be used and the expected demand from the smelter.

What emerges from this application is that Alcan expects output to be closer to 720 000 tons a year, which is the upper end of the scale as outlined in the technical report.

“We had looked at the higher volume because of the economies of scale, but mainly because this is a 25-year project we have to look at future prospects; how long is it going to be sustainable,” he explained.

“Anything that says it is going to die in 15 years of 18 years, we have to try move away from that and build a scenario that is going to ensure that the period we are looking at is realistic. The plant will have to run for 25 years for it to be economically viable.”

This increased output affected certain technical and logistical issues, with construction and operational deadlines affected by these changes.

According to the application, Alcan is projecting that construction will most probably only commence toward mid-2008 as opposed to early next year.

The construction timeframe has also been adapted from an initial estimate of 60 to 70 months to between 72 and 80 months.

Mpanza said that even the starting date was uncertain at this stage. “It depends on a number of things as negotiations are ongoing.”

The signing off on the project by Alcan would therefore determine all other time-based aspects of the project, he explained.

If construction was to start in mid-2008, the overall project would probably be completed only by 2015.

Construction would also be completed in at least two phases, with the first line coming on line before the second is constructed.

“We have to be comfortable that we are not jeopardising safety. It is only then that we can think of putting in the second line,” said Mpanza.

Other details of the project that Alcan wishes to amend in the final technical report include issues such as the number of pots to be installed, as well as the length of proposed potrooms.