Alumax Invests $18 Million in Aluminum Billet Expansion.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 1997--Alumax Inc. (NYSE:AMX; Toronto: AXI) today announced that it is investing approximately $18 million to increase the company's share of annual aluminum billet production capacity at its primary aluminum production facilities by 30 percent, or to more than 500 million pounds a year.

To accomplish this, continuous homogenizing furnace systems are being installed at two of the four billet producing plants in the company's primary aluminum production network--the Intalco plant in Ferndale, Washington, and the Eastalco plant in Frederick, Maryland. Alumax also produces aluminum billet at the Mt. Holly plant in Goose Creek, South Carolina, and receives billet from its interest in the Aluminerie de Becancour plant in Becancour, Quebec.

Alumax Executive Vice President Thomas G. Johnston said, "This proven, advanced technology system, the first of its kind to be installed in North America, will enable us to tailor our billet products to customer needs, provide even higher quality products, and increase production volumes to serve more customers. The investment clearly reflects Alumax's strong commitment to serving the billet market."

Installation of the continuous homogenizing systems is under way at Eastalco and is about to begin at Intalco. Both systems will be fully operational by the end of 1998--Eastalco will reach full production by late summer, Intalco by the fourth quarter.

Production of aluminum extrusion billet involves casting primary aluminum into logs followed by a process called homogenizing--heat treating the logs to prevent the chemical segregation of alloying elements.

Eugene R. Greenberg, president of Alumax Materials Management, Inc., said, "Alumax is supplementing its batch processing capability, in which discrete quantities of up to 150,000 pounds of billet are homogenized at one time, with a system that, because it is continuous, can efficiently process virtually any quantity. In addition, improved process control--a feature of the new furnaces--will give us billet with a more consistent metallurgical quality. As a result, customers will find that our billet will reduce variability in their extrusion process."

Robert Park, vice president sales and marketing for Alumax Materials Management, Inc., said, "During the past four years, we have converted our billet operations almost exclusively to air cushion tooling, installed soft handling equipment to improve quality control, and upgraded our sawing capability to deliver some of the best cut tolerances in the industry. Today's announcement is the most recent expression of Alumax's long-term dedication to leadership in the billet market."

Mr. Park continued, "And with billet production on both coasts and in Canada, we are perfectly situated to supply customers in North America as well as the growing markets in the Pacific Rim."

The continuous homogenizing systems being installed at the Alumax facilities were designed by Hertwich Engineering of Braunau, Austria.

Alumax is a world leader in aluminum with assets of $3.3 billion and 1996 revenues of more than $3.1 billion.

The company produces and markets primary aluminum ingot, billet and slab and is a major fabricator of value-added aluminum products for the transportation, distributor, building and construction, packaging and consumer durables markets.

CONTACT: Alumax

Thomas R. Hagley (Media)

404/846-4642 Fax: [phone]

or

R. Daniel Loh (Investors)

404/846-4752 Fax: [phone]