Venezuela's government has approved $70 million for badly needed raw materials and replacement parts at CVG-Alcasa smelter, a spokeswoman with the company said Wednesday in an interview.
"The money has been approved, but the allocation order still has to be signed by" President Hugo Chavez, she added.
Alcasa has been suffering with a cash-flow crisis that has prevented the Puerto Ordaz-based smelter from buying raw materials in a timely fashion to maintain normal, smooth-running operations.
Currently, only 170 of 398 cells are functioning at the 170,000 mt/year primary aluminum smelter but, a cell-reconditioning project is underway to recuperate 30 of the inoperative cells, the spokeswoman said.
Alcasa also remains mired in internal political problems. Fighting broke out between rival groups at its main entryway Tuesday and its Sintralcasa union still is occupying the office of company president Elio Sayago.
Sintralcasa wants to replace Sayago, who was voted down in a recent company-wide referendum, with one of its own members. "But today there was no violence and the workers have been able to freely come and go," the company spokeswoman said.
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