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                                                                   EXHIBIT 24.1



                               POWER OF ATTORNEY

         KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that the undersigned officers and
directors, individually and collectively, hereby constitute and appoint Helen
M. Feeney, Lawrence B. Frost and Michael T. Vollkommer, and each of them, their
true and lawful attorneys and agents to execute and deliver on behalf of any
one or more of them, in any one or more of their various capacities as officer
or director of the registrant, a registration statement covering shares of
Alumax Inc. Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share, (and the stock purchase
rights relating thereto) issuable pursuant to the 1993 Long Term Incentive Plan
(as Amended and Restated and as Further Amended on October 3, 1996) and any and
all required amendments (including post-effective amendments) and supplements
thereto, for filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the undersigned, and each of them, granting
unto said attorneys and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to
do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done
in and about the premises, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said
attorneys and agents, and each of them, shall lawfully do or cause to be done
by virtue hereof.

         IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the undersigned has signed his or her name
hereto on the date set opposite his or her name.

May 29, 1997    /s/ Allen Born
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                Allen Born, as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
                and Director (Principal Executive and Financial Officer)


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May 29, 1997      /s/ Kevin J. Krakora
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  Kevin J. Krakora, as Vice President and Controller
                  (Principal Accounting Officer)


May 29, 1997      /s/ J. Dennis Bonney
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  J. Dennis Bonney, as Director


May 29, 1997      /s/ Harold Brown
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  Harold Brown, as Director


May 29, 1997      /s/ L. Don Brown
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  L. Don Brown, as Director

May 29, 1997      /s/ Pierre Des Marais II
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  Pierre Des Marais II, as Director


May 29, 1997      /s/ James C. Huntington, Jr.
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  James C. Huntington, Jr., as Director

May 29, 1997      /s/ W. Loeber Landau
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  W. Loeber Landau, as Director


May 29, 1997      /s/ Paul W. MacAvoy
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  Paul W. MacAvoy, as Director


May 29, 1997      /s/ Anne Wexler
                  -------------------------------------------------------------
                  Anne Wexler, as Director