ALUMINUM SMELTER – Rusals new plant to cost $2.3B

RUSSIA - UC RUSAL of Moscow and HYDROOGK have begun construction of a new US$2.3-billion, 600,000 t/y aluminum smelter in the province of Krasnoyarsk. The Boguchanskiy facility will be one of the countrys five largest aluminum plants.

The smelter will include a reduction area, a baked anode production plant, a casthouse and related auxiliary facilities. It will be outfitted with RA-300 reduction cells, which is a UC Rusal proprietary technology and one of the worlds most efficient and clean electrolysis technologies. Commissioning of the smelter is expected to take place in December 2009, with full capacity to be attained in the second quarter of 2011.

In May 2006, Rusal (www.Rusal.com) and HydroOGK (www.GidroOGK.ru) signed a co-operation agreement to jointly build the Boguchanskoye energy and metals complex. The project includes construction of a 3,000-MW Boguchanskaya hydroelectric plant on the Angara River as well as the smelter.