United Co Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer, has
signed an accord with China Power Investment Corp to build plants
in China and Africa.
The companies will build an aluminum smelter in China's Qinghai
Province and a bauxite and alumina complex in Guinea, Moscow-based
Rusal said yesterday.
The partnership will allow Rusal to strengthen its presence in
China, the world's largest aluminum producer and consumer, Chief
Executive Officer Alexander Bulygin said, according to Bloomberg
News. The complex in Guinea will reinforce the company's "raw
materials base," he said.
Guinea has one-third of the world's reserves of bauxite, an ore
that's processed into alumina, used in the production of aluminum.
Rusal operates three alumina refineries in Guinea.
China Power will hold as much as 49 percent of the Guinea
complex, which will have an annual production capacity of 2.8
million tons of alumina, Rusal said.
Rusal will control up to 49 percent of the Chinese smelter,
which will produce more than 500,000 tons a year of the metal. The
smelter will be powered by China Power's hydroelectric power plant
on the Yellow River.
The Guinean and Chinese plants will be part of a "vertically
integrated aluminum production complex," Rusal said. The "joint
project may commence in 2009," it added. A feasibility study will
be completed by mid-2008.
Rusal appointed Tatyana Soina as acting financial director, the
company said in a separate statement yesterday.
(Shanghai Daily February 5, 2008)
