Nature Alu: Producing high-purity aluminium to developing Canada-Europe very high added value supply chain sector

Denis Mazerolle, The President of Nature Alu has built a dream team to produce the only high-purity aluminium plant in North America. In doing so in Quebec, Canada, he and his partners are developing a Canada-Europe supply chain in a sector with very high added value.

Mazerolle has industry experience of around 32 years working with Alcan and then with Rio Tinto and never looked out for retirement. He is now 56 years and with his former colleague Luc Boivin, they challenged themselves to produce 99.99% pure aluminium in Quebec.

High-purity aluminium is highly demanded by capacitor manufacturers, as well as by lithium-ion battery manufacturers, which are used in smartphones, as well as electric cars. The manufacturers of the powder used in speciality 3D printers are also very fond of pure aluminium.

Denis Mazerolle, had a career of metallurgical engineer Said: "We wanted to create a company that did not exist here while having a value-added product. Pure aluminium was an interesting route. There are a few producers in Europe, but most of it comes from China. A first market study made us understand that we would meet a need. And, right now, it’s more than ever. "

The new entrepreneurial duo managed to convince Patrice Côté, owner of an engineering firm specializing in aluminium, and Michel Toupin, an entrepreneur in the construction of aluminium structures, to join them in creating Nature Alu.

The new Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean dream team first managed to raise $ 2 million for the construction of a pilot plant in the region, where the first ingot of 99.99% pure aluminium was produced in 2017.

This first phase allowed the establishment, although modest for the moment, of a supply chain (smelting, casting, rolling, etc.) between Canada and Europe. "Our European partners are very enthusiastic," says Denis Mazerolle.

“Investors not only took into account our product and our ideas. They mostly watched the team behind the project.”

After the convincing results of the pilot plant, the four business partners have successfully financed their future $13 million plant in Jonquière. Eight weeks late due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, Nature Alu's new facilities are likely to be operational in July 2020.

Mazerolle adds: "At the beginning, we didn't have a recipe book. We wrote it along the way. We approached it scientifically. We did a lot of R&D. We were fortunate to be able to benefit from the expertise of researchers from Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean. "

Nature Alu executives are not satisfied with having successfully produced 4N and even 4N + aluminium. They ultimately aim to produce 5N aluminium (99.999%).

"We shouldn't have too much trouble recruiting," believes Denis Mazerolle. There is a vibe around our business right now. "