The sale includes about 96 acres and related structures andequipment located approximately four miles east of downtown Tacomain the Tideflats industrial area, adjacent to the Blair Waterway,which the Port is redeveloping for container terminal use. If thesale is approved, the Port will pay Kaiser $12.1 million cash andset aside $4 million in escrow "to meet certain regulatoryrequirements related to preparing the real estate for futureuse."

Any portion of the funds not required to meet such requirementswill be paid to Kaiser as additional proceeds of the sale. Inreturn, the Port of Tacoma will assume responsibility for anynecessary demolition and environmental remediation that may berequired as it develops or otherwise maintains the property.

The Tacoma facility has been fully curtailed since mid-2000. Atfull operation, the facility had about 350 employees and wascapable of producing about 73,000 metric tons of aluminum annually."After much study, we concluded that Tacoma simply cannot competewith the much larger, newer, and more efficient smelters -generally located outside the United States - that dominate theworld market today," said Kaiser President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer Jack A. Hockema.