Featured Speaker
"New Methodologies: Producing High-Quality Metal from Low-Grade Ores"
Anne Lauvergeon
Founder/CEO of ALP; Chair, École des Mines de Nancy; former CEO of Areva S.A.
Date: Wednesday, March 17
Time: Noon EDT
About the Presentation
While there is a high demand for bauxite, not all bauxite ores are fit to produce aluminum of sufficient quality. In addition, a high-quality bauxite – Al2O3 – is necessary to reduce production costs and to avoid environmental issues such as red muds.
Fostering Local Aluminum Production
IB2, a start-up founded in 2014 and headquartered in France, has pioneered an innovative technology to produce high-quality aluminum from low-grade bauxite. Their approach is focused on four pillars—financial, environmental, strategic, and technological. This presentation will review the innovative process that comes from this approach—a process that allows reliance on newly exploitable low-quality bauxite deposits and reduces dependency on foreign distribution. By boosting local distribution, this technology also serves to reduce carbon emissions related to transportation. This new industrial process is a game-changer, with IB2 leading the way to green and energy-saving aluminum production.
About the Presenter
Anne Lauvergeon is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the French National School of Mining Engineering. She holds an advanced degree in physics and chemistry. Lauvergeon is founder and has been the chief executive officer of A.L.P, an advisory and investment company, since 2011. Since 2014, she has been the board chair of Sigfox, a world-leading Internet of Things (IoT) operator. Since 2018, she has been board chair of IB2, and she was appointed co-chair of the Innovation Committee of the MEDEF (Mouvement des Entreprises de France). From 2013 to 2018, she was chair of the Innovation 2030 National Committee. From July 2001 to June 2011, after its creation, she was chief executive officer of AREVA. From June 1999 to June 2011, she was chair and chief executive officer of COGEMA (now AREVA NC).
In March 1997, she joined Alcatel Telecom as senior executive vice president and was appointed a member of the Executive Committee in July 1998. She was in charge of the international network and the group's interests in energy, defense, transportation, and nuclear fields. In 1995, she became managing director and partner of Lazard Frères (New York, Paris).
From 1990 to 1995, she worked for the French President’s office, in charge of international economy and foreign trade missions and was the deputy chief of staff in 1991. At the same time, she became personal representative to the French President, in charge of the G7/G8 Summits.
In 1984, she directed the European nuclear safety studies applied to the chemical industry for CEA (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, the public technological research organization in France). From 1985 to 1988, she supervised the underground activities in and around Paris and was appointed, in 1988, deputy director of the General Mining Council. She started her professional career in 1983, in the iron and steel industry (Usinor).