Johannesburg - The $2.2 billion aluminium smelter at Coega in the Eastern Cape was "just one of many options" available to Alcan, the new Canadian owner of French aluminium giant Pechiney said last week.

Joseph Singerman, a company spokesperson, confirmed from Montreal on Friday that Alcan officials last week met the proposed South African shareholders of the project. He downplayed the importance of these meetings, saying they were part of a "normal information gathering process" during which the economic and engineering feasibility studies were assessed. 

Apart from speaking with the government, the National Ports Authority and the Coega Development Corporation, Alcan also met the Industrial Development Corporation, power utility Eskom and the National Empowerment Fund, which represents black empowerment interests.

Pechiney's new AP50 smelter technology - thought to be a key reason behind Alcan's decision to take over its French rival - was, Singerman said, "very important to the group", which now had to decide whether Coega was the best site to launch this new technology.