United Company Rusal, the world's largest producer of aluminium and alloys, has started construction of the Taishet aluminium smelter in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, Russia. The smelter's annual capacity will total 750,000 mt of aluminium. The projected volume of investments into construction of the facility is approximately US$2 billion, the group said in a statement Monday.
UC Rusal said the Taishet smelter would be comprised of four potrooms equipped with state-of-the-art RA-400 cells developed by the UC Rusal's Engineering & Technology Centre.
The smelter would also include casthouse, anode, and energy shops, gas treatment facilities, and a complete complex of infrastructure facilities, it said, adding that the smelter's first batch of aluminium would be produced in November 2009 and completion of the smelter was scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2011.
"UC RUSAL's major aluminium assets are concentrated in Russia, and it is here that we see big potential for developing new plants. We have developed the 'smelter of the future' concept which complies with the world's strictest technological and environmental standards. The implementation of this project will allow the company to increase aluminium output by over 19% and will become an essential contribution to the development of the Russian economy," said Alexander Bulygin, UC Rusal CEO.
The group said investment into the project would total around $200 million in 2007. By the end of the year, preliminary works at the construction site would be complete, and major construction and mounting works would begin. "This will include laying the foundations for the reduction plant, casthouse and anode shops, construction of temporary and infrastructure buildings, and provision of power supply to the smelter site. Construction of residential buildings will start this year," the group said, adding that after its launch the plant would employ a total of 3,000 people. Apart from creating new jobs at the smelter itself, the company is planning to outsource a few secondary supporting functions to third-party contractors, which will ensure a 25% growth in the region's employment rate, it noted.
"According to preliminary estimates, due to the implementation of this project, the volume of capital costs developed by the Irkutsk region's construction industry will amount to 10 to 20% of the total investments into the smelter. From 2009 to 2013, the Taishet aluminium smelter's average annual tax allocation rate into the Irkutsk region and Taishet municipal district's
budgets will exceed $55 million," said UC Rusal.
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