François Lavallée

My work with Sorel-Tracy was mainly as a counsultant expert with 27 years of expertise on smelting furnace operations. I provided guidance on furnace operation, design and strategic test planning and follow up for the test duration.

I also worked with Rio Tinto Europe on bauxite residue upgrading from 2024 to 2025. I acted as a furnace expert and provided indepth analysis on process feasibility.

• Led 42 process engineers and technicians in 5 plants in Sorel complex spanning from Ore Pre Processing plant to the Furnace Smelter, the Steel Plant, the Metals Powder Plant and the Upgrading Slag Plant. The role was to align on production objectives; volume, quality, process safety and unit cost. As the manager I always made a priority to have my crew act for the best interest of the company before self or plant interest.
• I maintained an active role on Smelting Furnace development from control loop improvement to furnace design and ancillary equipment development.

Qualify new sources of reductants, ore and electrodes for furnace operation. The intent was to lower costs by having many suppliers to compete.

Shift furnace control loops from empirical recipe to real time and transient heat and mass balances.