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The Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter is a mothballed industrial facility near Ashington, Northumberland, on the coast of North East England, south of the village of Lynemouth. The smelter is owned by Canadian aluminium company Alcan, which is part of Rio Tinto. The smelter was opened in 1974 at a cost of £54 million. It ceased production in March 2012. == Factors Determining the Smelter's Site == A variety of factors determined the smelter's position: *The first was a source of electric power to smelt the aluminium. One tonne of aluminium requires the same amount of electricity that an average family uses in 20 years, so cheap power was needed.〔 In 1972 Alcan commissioned Lynemouth Power Station less than from the smelter's site, to fulfil its power needs. The station's site was convenient for access to the Ellington and Lynemouth coal mines nearby, which were also the fundamental reason for the nearby village's creation.〔 The power station has a 420 megawatt (MW) capacity, more than enough to meet the load requirements of the smelter.〔''Electrical Times'', v.160 1971 Oct-Dec〕 The spare electricity is sold to the National Grid. *Another factor was finding a labour force. Many coal mines in the area had shut down, leaving thousands of people there unemployed. Aluminium smelting is very labour-intensive, but the workforce in the local area were used to heavy work because of working in the mines. The British government also granted £28 million to the company to help reduce unemployment in the area. *Transport was another major factor as bauxite could not be found in the United Kingdom, only in places such as Jamaica and Australia.〔 The smelter's location had to be near a port with good transport links to the site. The town of Blyth, which is south of the smelter, already had a deep sea port. There was also a railway link from the port going directly to the power station, which was connected to the Alcan facility. The site also has good road links.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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