Sanchez Aluminum is a private company owned by Santiago Holdings, Inc. and used by the Brazilian O Palácio crime syndicate to launder money.
Background[]
Located 1 kilometer from Artemis near the city's reactors, the company employs 80 people in the smelting of aluminum.[1]
Loretta Sanchez, the CEO and Founder of the company, has a doctorate in Chemistry with a specialty in inorganic processes. She invented a process to cheaply implement the FFC Cambridge Process to deoxidize anorthite ore, making it profitable to smelt aluminum on the Moon.
When planning the construction of the smelter, the Kenya Space Corporation required that their engineers be involved in reviewing construction and operation plans, particularly since KSC would lease the smelter bubble to Sanchez Aluminum. The contract between the aluminum company and KSC stipulates that Artemis will provide all the power required for the smelter free of charge, and that Sanchez Aluminum will provide all the required oxygen (a by product of the smelting process) for Artemis free of charge. This contract makes it very hard for any competitors in aluminum manufacturing to set up operations on the Moon as there are extensive power requirements for a smelter and the cost would be astronomical.
The company operates four Harvesters in the Moltke Foothills to collect ore to smelt aluminum.