Today, around 600 employees at TRIMET’s Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne site produce 145,000 tons of electrolytic aluminium and cast 155,000 tons of aluminium products each year. 

“The green transformation in energy supply and mobility alone is creating a huge demand for aluminium in Europe. We are preparing for this by producing the light metal where it is needed,” says Philipp Schlüter, CEO of TRIMET Aluminium SE. “The French production sites, as part of the TRIMET Group, ensure a reliable supply of material to the industry, meeting the highest ecological standards.” 

The aluminium smelter in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne went into operation in 1907 and is one of the pioneers of the aluminium industry. The previous owner, Rio Tinto Alcan, gave up the site in 2013, after around a third of the electrolysis furnaces had already been shut down. TRIMET took over the traditional plant in the Savoy Alps, which employed 420 people at the time, and recommissioned the shut-down furnaces by September 2014. The aluminium smelter, with its anode factory and foundry, and its sister plant in Castelsarrasin, specialize in high-quality aluminium wire for electrical and mechanical applications, which is processed into cables and connecting elements for the energy sector and the automotive industry. 

Since the takeover, TRIMET has invested around 300 million euros in its French sites. The family-owned company has increased the production capacity of the aluminium smelter by 50 percent, modernized production technology and improved energy efficiency. The foundry in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne has been upgraded with new equipment for casting ingots. 

The materials specialist is also actively advancing decarbonization efforts through sustainability measures at its sites in France. This initiative includes not only optimizing the electrolysis process but also expanding the recycling business. By establishing closed material cycles and augmenting the proportion of recycled aluminium alloys, TRIMET is increasing the high-quality recycling of scrap for power cables and other products. Over the past ten years, TRIMET has reduced direct CO₂ emissions per ton of aluminium by 15 percent at the Sain-Jean-de-Maurienne site. The goal is to achieve climate-neutral aluminum production by 2050 at the latest.