Rusal starts shipping bauxite from Guinea's Dian-Dian mine
MOSCOW – Sanctions-hit Russian aluminium producer Rusal said on Tuesday it had started shipping bauxite from its Dian-Dian bauxite project in Guinea to its alumina refineries in other countries.
Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer outside China, has been hit by US sanctions imposed on it and co-owner Oleg Deripaska in early April, a move that damaged the company's exports and internal supply chain.
The company said it had completed the first stage of development of the Dian-Dian bauxite deposit in Guinea, the world's largest, and started exporting the ore.
"The commissioning of the bauxite mine means not only the creation of new jobs and increased employment for the local population, but also new opportunities for the development of the economy of Guinea," Yakov Itskov, the head of Rusal alumina division, said in a statement.
Guinea is vital for Rusal as the West African country accounts for 27% of the company's production of bauxite, the ore that is refined into alumina and ultimately smelted into aluminium.
Rusal has started exports from Dian-Dian despite the US sanctions because its agreement with Guinea required it to do so and also because all investments into the project were made before the sanctions were imposed, a source, familiar with the situation, said.
The mine at Dian Dian has an annual capacity of 3-million tonnes of bauxite. Rusal produced 3.1-million tonnes of bauxite in Guinea in 2017. The cost of the Dian-Dian project was estimated at around $220-million when Rusal launched it in 2014.
The aluminium producer also owns the Friguia alumina refinery in Guinea which has been shut since 2012 and Rusal has been planning to reopen it.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation