Alcan and ARCO Aluminum Announce Logan Expansion and New Operating Agreement

LOGAN COUNTY, KY. (April 21) BUSINESS WIRE -April 21, 1999--Alcan Aluminum Corporation and ARCO Aluminum, Inc. announced today a $22 million expansion of their jointly owned Logan Aluminum rolling mill in Logan County, Kentucky. The Logan facility is the world's newest and largest producer of aluminum sheet for the beverage can industry with annual output of approximately 1.5 billion pounds.

The expansion includes the installation of a new 200,000 tonne per year pusher furnace to replace existing older technology ingot preheat capacity. The new preheat capacity will allow for greater utilization and operating efficiencies of the plant's hot rolling mill, thereby reducing costs and increasing overall plant capacity by approximately 15,000 tonnes per year.

The project, including a 10,000-square-foot building expansion, is now underway and is scheduled to come on line in the third quarter of 2000.

Approval of the expansion followed the completion by Alcan and ARCO Aluminum of a restructured operating agreement for Logan, which recently received clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice. While specific terms were not disclosed, the new agreement enhances the alignment of both partners' interests in the joint venture and facilitates further plant optimization.

Richard B. Evans, President, Alcan Aluminum Corporation, said, "This expansion furthers Logan's competitiveness and affirms its position as the world's premier, low-cost can sheet rolling mill. Moreover, the new operating agreement that paved the way for this investment makes Logan increasingly attractive for additional incremental capacity expansions in the future."

Mark Durst, President, ARCO Aluminum, Inc. said, "We are pleased to have reached agreement on several key issues involving the Logan facility which will provide the basis for a closer and more efficient joint ownership, as well as improved operating results and cost structures. This is an exciting time for Logan employees, the greater Logan County community and both joint venture partners."

Logan Aluminum, Inc. was formed in 1985. Throughout the early 1990s, the plant received substantial capital investment from both owners, including the expansion of the plant's cast house and preheat pusher furnaces. In 1993, Alcan expanded the capacity of the Logan facility with the addition of a $255 million project featuring two pusher furnaces, a high-speed slitter, a three-stand cold rolling mill, and a 360,000-square-foot building.

Logan Aluminum employs 950 men and women and ranks as a leading source of private capital investment in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Alcan Aluminum Corporation, based in Cleveland, is the U.S. subsidiary of Alcan Aluminium Limited. ARCO Aluminum, Inc. is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, and is a unit of Atlantic Richfield Company.

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CONTACT: Alcan Aluminum Corp.

           Patrick S. Carpenter, 440/423-6522 

or

           ARCO Aluminum, Inc. 

Mark Durst, 502/566-5700

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