VALCO gives industries lifeline

The Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) has started producing molten aluminium for supply to Aluworks Limited to meet local aluminium demands after a three-year break that has affected local production of Aluminium products.

About 300 tonnes of Aluminium has already been supplied within the last two weeks to Aluworks which has since the closure of VALCO, been importing Aluminium ingots from South Africa. VALCO, originally owned by Kaiser Company- 90 per cent and Alcoa -10 per cent, was shut down in October 2002 following disagreements with the Government of Ghana, principally over power supply rates.

Determined to revive VALCO, the government acquired Kasier's shares and now holds 90 per cent with partners Alcoa owning 10 per cent. The managing director of VALCO, Seth Adjei told the Times on Thursday that VALCO was way ahead of schedule as almost 60 of the 100 cells in the first pot line had been started and were producing Aluminium.

He said the country's main concern now is to produce enough to feed the local Aluminium industry, which nearly collapsed due to the break in VALCO's production. He described VALCO's restart as historic because it is the first time in its 38-year history that the restarting of the plant had been done with wholly Ghanaian manpower as compared to the past where restart schedules were done under the supervision of expatriates.