Our Commitment
From the time, you place your order to when the aluminum is used, we are with you every step of the way. From our Metallurgists who are ready to design an alloy for your special needs to our customer service reps that will be at your site when our metal runs and everyone in between, we pride ourselves in unmatched customer care.
Company History
Golden Aluminum was established in 1982 by the Coors Brewing Company. Its visionary mission was to develop an Aluminum alloy and a manufacturing process that could provide Coors with a complete Aluminum can (body, lid and tab) from a single alloy made from recycled beverage cans. Contrary to all normal Aluminum industry practices at that time Bill Coors set out to make the closed-loop life cycle concept a reality. Select timeline dates for more details.
1982 - Bill Coors Sr. Carries out his dream.
Bill Coors Sr. decides to act on his dream to develop a 100% recyclable aluminum can and Golden Aluminum is founded.
1983 - First of its kind continuous block caster.
In Fort Lupton Colorado, an old distribution warehouse is converted to an aluminum mill with the first of its kind continuous block caster, that can turn recycled cans into new aluminum sheet.
1992 - Global exports begin.
The company goes global and starts export shipments to Asia and Europe.
1994 - Golden diversifies
Golden diversifies its product offering beyond the 5000 series alloys by offering products made of AA 3004 alloy
1997 - GA enters the food packaging business.
Coors enters into a two-year agreement for Crown Cork and Seal to operate Golden Aluminum to provide aluminum stock to its food packaging plants in addition to Coor’s can plant. This was a key moment in our entry into the food packaging business.
2004 - Purchased by Golden Metals Inc
Golden Aluminum is purchased by Lupton Ventures, a small investment group with roots in Iowa and experience in the aluminum casting industry.
2005 - Reinvention
Golden Aluminum reinvents itself by implementing JIT and lean manufacturing reducing average delivery time by 33%.
2012 - Infinity Alloy Series Introduced
AA5016 the first member of Infinity Alloy Series is introduced. Made from more than 75% recycled beverage cans it is the highest recycled content aluminum alloy in the world.
2014 - Aggressive entry into the automotive supply chain
A new initiative to market and supply to the automotive industry is started. After only a few months and meetings with the OEM’s the first sale is made into the automotive supply chain.
2015 - A new R&D effort
A new R&D effort results in the successful casting of the first 6000 series alloy.
2016 - A New Partnership
Entered into a parterniship arrangement with SMS group to devlop the next generation continuous block caster….NEXCAST
The Plant
We welcome you to come visit our facility to see our process first hand. Since that is normally not very practical, we offer a short video tour.
A Unique Process
Recycled Cans
When Bill Coors wanted to use recycled beverage cans to remake aluminum he had to find and implement a new process. The industry at that time only made cans from raw aluminum.
Discovering the Block Caster
In Austria Bill Coors discovered a pair of brothers inventing the Lauener Block Caster.
Solidification Process
The block caster uses tracks of copper coated steel blocks on tracks to cool and solidify the aluminum into a sheet.
Creating Aluminum Sheet
The block concept was a breakthrough in thinking vs previous belt concepts as the blocks had the thermal mass and rigidity to produce a sheet of consistent structure while running at a relatively high speed.
A New Block Caster Facility
Based on several years of successful production of 762mm wide aluminum sheet at the Fort Lupton facility, in the mid 1990’s Coors invested $350M in a wide sheet (1676mm) block caster facility in San Antonio, TX to produce can body sheet and engineered plans for a 2133mm/84” wide future plant to be built in Australia. During the two-year period from 1997 to 1998 the San Antonio plant produced ~20,000 metric tons of can body and end sheet for Coors and Crown.
World-Renowned Block Caster
With over 30 years of operation producing well over a billion pounds of Aluminum the Golden Aluminum Block Caster is by far the most successful block caster in the world.