Rusal Talks in Venezuela Yield Document
After five years of negotiations between Russian aluminum company Rusal and Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana, the Venezuelan state company has written a letter of intention. According to a statement issued by Rusal yesterday, the parties will determine bauxite deposits for development, perform audits, estimate investment requirements and define a format for cooperation.
Rusal deputy public relations director Vera Kurochkina noted that Venezuela has significant bauxite deposits and high energy potential. She also noted that Rusal had broad interests in foreign markets, and is studying the potential of such countries as Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Congo and Papua New Guinea as well as Venezuela.
The Venezuelan letter is the first official declaration from that side. It appeared Sunday evening immediately after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the beginning of “socialist industrialization” in the country on national television. The letter concerns the construction of a metallurgical facility with the cooperation of Russia, Belarus and Iran. Chavez has stated that the metals industry in Venezuela will be worth $3.5 billion in 2007, and investment in it will amount to $26 billion through 2013.
Kurochkina said that Rusal is not only looking at bauxite production in Venezuela, but is also in creating an electrometallurgical complex for the production of primary aluminum and alloys. The company's subsidiary Bauxite Company of Guyana may have up to 100 million tons of bauxite reserves, which would supply a plant with a capacity of 1.4 million tons of alumina for 25 years. Construction on the new project will cost between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion, once the final agreement is worked out. Analysts say that there are major hurdles to be overcome before an agreement can be reached.
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All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 11, 2007
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