Production Commission (bauxite, alumina and aluminium)

Chairman: Yves Lallemant

For any information or contacts on this commission, write to histalu@histalu.org

Area of study

From ore to ingots… The Production commission focuses on the history of aluminium from bauxite deposit prospecting through to aluminium production. The history of techniques and professions, as well as industrial and business issues, have been addressed.

Currently active workgroups

• History of management [l’encadrement a un sens plus social ?] in aluminium smelters (Jérôme Pelissier-Tanon)
  
• History of Zalco (Zeeland Aluminium Company), former PNL, Netherlands (Rudi Gomperts)
  
• Pechiney and the sale of technology and know-how (René Bonfils)
  
• Global history of bauxite producers’ strategies (René Lesclous)

Examples of completed work

• Technical history of aluminium production (publised under Paul Morel's supervision under the title Histoire technique de la production d’aluminium, Presses universitaires de Grenoble, Grenoble, 1991)
  
• History of production sites (fonds IHA)
  
• The factory of Fria in Guinea (fonds IHA)
  
• Thoughts on technical change (IHA collection and Cahiers d’histoire de l’aluminium # 34)
  
• History of electrolysis professions (IHA collection)
  
• History of Aluminium de Grèce (published by Ivan Grinberg and Philippe Mioche under the title Aluminium de Grèce, l’usine aux trois rivages, Grenoble, PUG, 1996)
  
• Evolution of research strategies (thesis by Muriel Le Roux-Calas, 1994, published in 1998 by Éditions Rive Droite under the title L’entreprise et la recherche : un siècle de recherche industrielle à Pechiney)
  
• …