On day five of the expedition we travelled to Reyðarfjörður, a small town on the east coast where the Alcoa Fjarðaál aluminium smelter is located. A guided tour gave us a good impression of the enormous size of the factory, its production capacity, and of the company's very well functioning public relations department.
Before driving back home, we looked at the local extensions of Alcoa’s presence in Reyðarfjörður: the newly built gigantic sports hall sponsored by Alcoa, the new highrise buildings and bungalows implanted into the fishing village, expecting Alcoa workers as new inhabitants, the abandoned work camp for the factory's construction workers which is now gradually being transported to the north of the country where a new silicone factory is going to be built.