RPT-Rio Tinto Alcan Restoring Laterriere Pot Line

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 -- Production at Rio Tinto Alcan's RIO.<L (RIO.AX: Quote) Laterriere Works aluminum smelter in Quebec will be completely restored in a couple of weeks after a power outage in July forced the company to idle nearly half of the plant's total capacity of 235,000 tonnes.

"We began a restart process at Laterriere in early August ... a bit over 60 percent of the pots that were down are now back in production," a company spokesperson confirmed to Reuters on Tuesday.

"We should have it back up at full production in the coming weeks," he said.

On July 6, the smelter suffered a significant power outage after two electrical transformers failed, forcing the company to suspend Laterriere Works' two production lines.

During the restart process, Rio Tinto Alcan was able to leverage its larger smelter network in order to meet customer needs, the spokesperson said.

The cause of the outage is still under investigation.