Fluor Daniel Wins 2 Contracts Worth $250 Million : Construction: The larger of the two pacts calls for the firm to join two others in expanding an aluminum smelter in Australia.

IRVINE — Fluor Corp. announced Wednesday that its chief engineering and construction subsidiary, Fluor Daniel, has secured two contracts worth about $250 million to the company.

The larger of the two contracts calls for Fluor Daniel and two partners in a joint venture to expand an aluminum smelter near Newcastle, Australia, for Sydney-based Tomago Aluminum Co. Pty. Ltd.

The $600-million project will expand the plant’s capacity from 240,000 metric tons per year to 380,000 metric tons per year. Fluor spokeswoman Deborah Land declined to say exactly what Fluor Daniel’s share of the contract amounts to, but she pointed out that the company created for the project, Western Pacific Constructors, is an equal joint venture among three companies.

Fluor Daniel’s partners in the project are Montreal-based SNC and Sydney-based CMPS, both engineering and construction companies. The joint venture company will provide engineering and construction services to the primary aluminum industry in Australia and New Zealand.

The Tomago contract is the group’s first, and the project is scheduled for completion in early 1993.

The contract is also the first that Fluor and SNC have landed since signing an agreement earlier this year to jointly pursue projects in the primary aluminum industry. SNC has considerable experience in that sector but lacks Fluor’s worldwide presence, while Fluor Daniel’s expertise in the aluminum industry has been in the rolling and recycling phases rather than primary production, Land said.

Capital investment in the primary aluminum market, which includes bauxite mining, aluminum refining and aluminum smelting, is expected to exceed $1 billion annually over the next decade, according to Fluor.

Fluor Daniel also announced Wednesday that it will build a $50-million amino acids production plant in Eddyville, Iowa, for Ajinomoto U.S.A. Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Ajinomoto Co.

Ajinomoto is involved in the production of food, feed and pharmaceuticals. The amino acids that will be produced at the company’s new Eddyville plant, which is scheduled for completion in late 1992, are used primarily as flavor enhancers in food products.