ALUMINUM 113 
 
into one large facility. A small wire production line, which operated at
a plant in Davenport, IA, was being moved to the Alabama plant. 
 Norandal USA Inc., a subsidiary of Noranda Aluminum, completed its acquisition
of the Revere Copper and Brass Inc.'s aluminum rolling mill at Scottsboro,
AL, as part of its program to increase its valueadded products involvement.
The sale of the mill by Revere required the approval of the bankruptcy court
of New York. Revere had been operating the mill under chapter 11 of the Federal
Bankruptcy Code, and sale of the mill as part of Revere's reorganization
plan required approval of the court overseeing the reorganization. The mill
would continue to produce sheet and plate with primary aluminum supplied
by Noranda's 204,000-ton-per-year smelter at New Madrid, MO. The Revere Scottsboro
primary smelter was not included in the transaction. 
 Commonwealth Aluminum was incorporated as the U.S. subsidiary of Comalco
Pty. Ltd., Australia, which in late 1984 purchased most of the aluminum operations
of Martin Marietta Corp. They included a 168,000-ton-per-year Goldendale,
WA, primary smelter; a 109,000-ton-per-year rolling mill and 204,000-ton-per-year
recycling plant at Lewisport, KY; an alumina unloading port at Portland,
OR; and other assets. 
 Newly formed Northwest Aluminum Co., a group headed by a former executive
director of BPA for DSI companies, was granted the exclusive rights to negotiate
the purchase of Martin Marietta's 82,000-ton-peryear The Dalles, OR, smelter.
The smelter was shut down by Martin Marietta in Docember 1984 when no buyer
for the operation was found. 
 In September, Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) sold the ARCO Aluminum Co.'s
163,000-ton-per-year Columbia Falls, MT, aluminum smelter to a group of investors
headed by a former ARCO executive. The group, Montana Aluminum Investors
Corp., began operation of the smelter through the Columbia Falls Aluminum
Co. The plant was purchased with financial underwriting from the Montana
Board of Investments under a provision that overhead, salaries, 
hourly labor costs, and BPA energy costs were reduced. The new management
announced the smelter would be converted into an international alumina tolling
facility following the complete processing of the existing ARCO inventory
of alumina in April 1986. 
 In September, a group of investors headed by Joseph A. Frates, who successfully
acquired Kaiser Steel Corp. in 1984, began an attempt to take over Kaiser,
Oakland, CA, by filing an intent with the Securities Exchange Commission.
The group reportedly announced that it would dispose of all Kaiser assets
except the alum.num and industrial chemicals. Kaiser rejected the Frates
group's initial offer; however, in December, the group had acquired 14.4%
of Kaiser and was offering shareholders $20 per share consisting of $7 cash
and $13 in securities. The group also announced that it would consider replacing
the company's directors with their own selection. By yearend, it was apparent
a major proxy fight was forming between Kaiser and the Frates group. 
 Alcan and Reynolds announced that Reynolds would purchase Alcan's Metals
Goods Div. The division, housed in St. Louis, MO, operated 27 service centers,
which distributed aluminum, nickel, stainless steel, and steel. Reynolds
indicated the centers would be incorporated into its Reynolds Aluminum Supply
Co. Div., which operated distribution service centers in the Southeast, lower
Midwest, and West. 
 In March, Kaiser renegotiated a new 3year labor contract with the United
Steelworkers of America (USWA) for a reduction in wages and benefits. Kaiser's
new labor contract replaced the master contract that would have expired on
May 31, 1986. The contract called for a total wage and benefit cost reduction
of an average of $4.50 per hour, the loss of some paid holidays, and modifications
to vacation time and health insurance benefits. In return, the workers would
receive a series of preferred stocks that would accumulate in a trust. About
6,500 workers were covered by the contract, which was expected to save the
company about $50 million per year.