Canada’s largest metal processor plans to build a new aluminum remelt plant in Brampton, ON, at an investment of $50 million. Triple M Metal will be the majority owner of Matalco Inc., with the new operation’s president and CEO Leon Kozierok holding a minority stake. Kozierok will be integral to the new operation’s design and planning.

Matalco will produce “primary-quality” billets from scrap and extruders’ press trimmings, using state-of-the-art remelting technology. The 200-million lb/year operation will be the largest of its kind in Canada, and occupy 110,000-ft². The Toronto-area site will serve billet customers in the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S., as well as Canada.

Triple M stated that Matalco will be fully operational by the end of 2005.

The company pointed to increasing demand for billets stemming from rising industrial activity in China and expanded use of billets in construction and automotive markets. “Today’s high demand for billets is also due to the many significant capacity reductions that occurred over the last few years when demand for aluminum was low and when older remelt plants became too inefficient to operate productively,” according to the Triple M statement.

According to Kozierok, “Matalco’s timing couldn’t be better. Its state-of-the-art technology and significant production capacity will begin to meet the primary-quality billet needs of many large North American extruders who are currently operating in such a tight aluminum market. In fact, a number of leading North American extruders have already expressed interest in working with us.”