Aluminerie Alouette is a joint venture of four companies from the metallurgy sector: Rio Tinto Alcan, Austria Metall, Hydro Aluminium and Marubeni, as well as Investissement Québec. In the early 1990s, this joint venture undertook the construction of an aluminium smelter located in Sept-Îles.
Pomerleau was awarded the mandate for the civil engineering work of the new smelter.
Before beginning the construction, the excavation of 2 million m3 of rock had to be completed to prepare the site, which extended over an area of 3.23 km².
Pomerleau's mandate also included the following foundation works:
- Smoke emissions treatment facilities;
- A storage facility for fluoridated products;
- A base of four silos for the storage and distribution of alumina;
- Workshops for anode paste, the firing and cooling of anode, anode sealing and the treatment of bauxite, as well as the passageways between these workshops;
- Maintenance workshops and offices in the "carbon" sector;
- Workshops for the cleaning and repair of ladles;
- Technical rooms; and
- A high-voltage substation (161 kV) and service racks.