Saturday, December 2

Alcoa Three Oaks Mine.
Meet the parking lot at the mine entrance near FM 619 and FM 696 NE or Elgin TX.
See directions and map below.

Meyer’s Elgin SmokeHouse
188 Highway 290
Elgin TX 78621

Please RSVP – Family members are welcome but you must RSVP if you plan to attend. For more information and to RSVP please email Rheuben Hair, rhair@cliffordpower.com or phone him at 512-750-2703.

Alcoa operates the largest aluminum smelter in the U.S., an eight pot-line facility combined with a coal mine and power plant. Located 60 miles from Austin in central Texas, the 30,000-acre Rockdale site includes the Sandow and Three Oaks mines.

The two hour tour starts at the Three Oaks Mine parking lot. The guide, a retired Alcoa worker will be our bus driver. A 52 passenger School Bus from ALCOA will be used for our IEEE tour.

After a ride to the site, where Alcoa has been mining coal and making aluminum for 50 years, visitors are driven through the mine, power plant and smelter. Of particular interest are the giant mining trucks, bulldozers, and drag lines the miners use to extract the coal.

In addition to learning about open-pit mining, coal-fired electricity generation and smelting, tourists also get to see some of the 10,000 acres of land that Alcoa has reclaimed, including reforestation and renovation of wetlands disturbed by the mining.

Before leaving, visitors stop at a company training center by the side of a scenic lake to see a video on the operations and snack on donuts and soft drinks.

Alcoa Inc. has held a significant stake in the Texas economy for nearly 50 years through a number of research and development sites, alumina and aluminum production facilities, and aluminum and plastic product manufacturing plants.

In 1952 and in record time, Alcoa built a four-potline smelter and three-unit power plant on a 7,000-acre site at Rockdale Operations in response to national defense needs during the Korean conflict. In the next 20 years Alcoa expanded those original four lines to six and then eight, making Rockdale its largest smelter in the U.S.

Alcoa produces three aluminum products at Rockdale: 1,500-lb. primary ingot or “pig”; sheet ingot shipped to fabricating plants to be formed into plate, sheet and foil; and aluminum powder for a variety of chemical and commercial applications. Atomized powder is also a component in solid rocket propellants ¾ the Rockdale plant is the sole supplier of aluminum powder to the NASA Space Shuttle program.

Adjacent to the Rockdale smelter are Sandow Power Plant, the 914-acre man-made Alcoa Lake, and Sandow Mine, with a mining permit encompassing 17,838 acres in Milam and Lee Counties.

Of all operational areas at the Rockdale site, the mine has the longest history, dating back to 1918, when it supplied graded and washed lignite to commercial businesses and state institutions. In 1952, under an agreement with McAlester Fuel Company and Texas Power & Light Company (TXU), Alcoa purchased the mine site to build the world’s first aluminum-producing plant to use lignite as a fuel to generate electrical power.

Today not only does the mine produce more than six million tons of lignite annually, it manages an extensive, award-winning reclamation program in the effort to restore the land to a condition that is equal to or better than it was before mining.

Alcoa completed construction of the first of its three 125-megawatt generating units in 1952, shortly after casting Rockdale’s first aluminum ingot. T.U. Electric constructed its 545-megawatt Sandow Unit 4 in 1981 adjacent to Alcoa’s Units 1, 2 and 3.

The Rockdale, Sandow & Southern Railroad, a wholly owned Alcoa subsidiary, remains the operations’ vital link to a major carriers’ main line.

Those that want to Join Us for lunch afterwards we will be stopping at: Meyer’s Elgin SmokeHouse. Meyer's is a restaurant with a big selection of sausage and other meats, expect tradition with a European flair. You can count on a hearty meal, with myriad smoky barbecue tastes and textures. The turkey will melt in your mouth, while the lean, slightly exotic-flavored sausage will make you wonder just how they make this amazing stuff.

Mike Noth drove out there, here are his directions:

• Mike drove out there and provides these directions.
• From Austin; take 290 east. Go through Elgin.
• Turn left (north) on FM 696. Landmarks are Gas station and Acme Brick.
• Travel on FM 696 about 3.5 miles.
• Turn left on FM 619.
• Travel 0.5 mile on FM 619. There is a sign for the Alcoa, 3 Oaks Mine Office. Turn right.
  
• See the map below.