Rusal to Use ‘All Legal Means’ to Keep Guinea Complex (Update1)

Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum maker, will use “all legal means” to keep control of an alumina complex in Guinea after the country’s government said it gained court approval to seize the project. Rusal, controlled by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, hasn’t received any ruling from the Guinea court, the Moscow- based company said in an e-mailed statement today. It would use “all legal means, including international arbitration, to defend our interests as the legitimate owner of the asset.” Guinea owns all of the Friguia alumina refinery and may go “in search of a new partner,” Momo Sacko, an adviser to Guinea President Moussa Camara, said on Sept. 11. Rusal had 10 days to appeal the court’s decision, he added. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the same day that Guinea should consider the “possible consequences” of the attempted expropriation of the site. Camara, who took power last year after a military coup, has been reviewing agreements between the previous government and companies including AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. Guinea, the largest exporter of bauxite used to produce aluminum, also in December ordered Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-biggest iron ore producer, to hand over part of an iron-ore concession. “Guinean authorities have attempted to expropriate Rusal’s property,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site Sept. 11, adding it hopes Guinea “realizes the possible consequences of such actions both for the overall climate of traditionally constructive Russian-Guinean relations and for the socio-economic situation in their own country.” “Rusal purchased Friguia in full compliance with Guinean legislation and we consider the plant to be our legitimate property,” Rusal said in an e-mailed statement the same day.