More than 50 years of history

The opening of Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio, CBA, is the milestone of the implementation of the first aluminum plant in Brazil. In June 4, 1955, the company started its operations producing only 4 thousand tons/year and reached its fifty-year anniversary with the mark of 400 thousand tons/year and an average growth of 10% a year.

With the building of the plant in Alumínio, São Paulo state, a new development cycle of metallurgy in the Country. Bauxite exploration, raw material used in the production of aluminum, had already been started in 1931, in Poços de Caldas region, Minas Gerais state, and from then on, the investments have not stopped. The project was 90%-financed by Votorantim that, in 1946, had the equity control of the company.

Alumínio city, former Rodovalho, was still an urban center of the former district of Mairinque when it was strategically chosen for CBA plant building. Distant 75 kilometers from São Paulo city and, at the same time, close to the Port of Santos, the whole industrial process was planned so that the ore could be transported by train.

A former workers' village, Alumínio city is, today, a 15 thousand-inhabitant municipality, concentrating the largest aluminum integrated industry in the world, starting with bauxite processing to the manufacturing of cast and transformed products.