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| Ports
and Power: The Kitimat Advantage
Visitors to the Kitimat Works
aluminum smelter in Kitimat,
south of Terrace, may be surprised
to learn that alumina, the plant's
most important raw material,
is imported from Australia.
It is power, in the form of
hydroelectricity, that is the
area's most valuable natural
resource.
In the Kitimat area, the massive
Kemano hydroelectric generating
station, 75 kilometres southeast
of the plant, supplies the enormous
amounts of power needed to convert
alumina to aluminum. In more
than 900 "potrooms"
at Kitimat Works, an electro-reduction
process produces aluminum in
its molten state. It is then
transferred to two casting centres,
strengthened with alloying materials,
and formed into extrusion or
sheet ingots.
Once shaped and finished to
customer specifications, aluminum
ingots are loaded into large,
ocean-going cargo vessels for
distribution to markets in the
Pacific Rim. Kitimat's deep,
year-round inland port provides
ready access to international
shipping destinations.
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An Extraction Economy
in Transition
Forests, fish and minerals: like most areas
of northwestern British Columbia, the Skeena
River region has long relied on three fundamental
natural resources to boost business and
provide employment.
Though rugged and remote throughout most
of its inland course, the Skeena empties
into one of the world's deepest year-round
seaports at Prince Rupert.
With a direct connection to the lucrative
commodity markets of the Pacific Rim, the
region's resources have traditionally gone
for export in a raw or semi-processed state.
But in recent years, price fluctuations
and changing global markets have triggered
a shift towards economic diversification,
including value-added processing of local
raw materials, and an expansion of the tourism,
service and knowledge-based industries.
Eco-tourism, including rafting, kayaking,
camping and sport angling, is drawing an
increasing flow of visitors - and dollars
- from around the world.
Still in the early stages of an economic
transition, the Skeena River area continues
to rely heavily on the extraction, transportation,
and manufacture of native natural resources:
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Forestry
is northwest British Columbia's largest non-service
industry, based on a timber supply area that
contains 7% of the province's allowable annual
cut (AAC). A handful of large, vertically-integrated
companies dominate the harvest and processing
of hemlock, balsam, spruce, cedar and pine.
A pulp mill in Prince Rupert, a linerboard
paper mill in Kitimat, and lumber mills in
Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitwanga, Hazelton
and Smithers have provided direct employment
to as many as 2,500 people. Recently, declining
Asian markets and international trade disputes
have brought uncertainty to the industry's
employment capacity.
• Mining,
primarily aluminum smelting and methanol production
in Kitimat, south of the Skeena River, employs
about 2,000 people. The enormous Kitimat aluminum
operation processes alumina imported from
Australia with hydroelectric power provided
by the 896 mW generating station at Kemano.
Processed aluminum is exported to markets
in Japan, Hong Kong and Korea. A combined
methanol-ammonia plant in Kitimat produces
a third of British Columbia's petrochemical
output with the benefit of a steady supply
of natural gas from the northeastern part
of the province. Other mining operations in
the northwestern region include gold, silver,
copper, molybdenum and magnesium mining.
• Fishing
for commercial catch is concentrated in the
Prince Rupert area, with a fleet of several
hundred vessels. The industry's primary harvest
is salmon bound for the Skeena and Nass river
systems, supplemented by halibut, ling cod,
herring, crab, shrimp and other bottom fish.
In Prince Rupert, one of the largest canneries
in the world provided employment for about
1,000 full-time and seasonal workers.
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