RusAl Prepares to Expand in Indonesia and Vietnam

United Company RusAl, the world's largest aluminum producer, is at the early stages of talks to build metals and mining businesses in Indonesia and Vietnam as it expands in faster-growing Asian markets, company spokeswoman Vera Kurochkina said Friday. RusAl, owned by Oleg Deripaska, may build a bauxite mine and an aluminum smelter in both countries, Kurochkina said. Bauxite is refined into a material used to make aluminum. "Negotiations are at an early stage," Kurochkina said, declining to give details. RusAl may be close to an accord with the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group to develop rail and port infrastructure and to jointly develop bauxite deposits in the central Tay Nguyen region of the country, the Vietnam News agency reported Thursday. Vietnam holds the world's fourth-largest bauxite reserves. RusAl opened an office there in May and said at the time that it would look to tap the country's energy potential and bauxite resources to set up a full cycle of mining and metal production. RusAl may invest about $1 billion in Vietnam, Igor Khovaev, a ministerial counselor at the Russian Embassy in Vietnam said in December, according to Indonesia's Antara News.