Rusal director of international and special projects Alexander Livshits
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Rusal African Property Launch Delayed
The launch of the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (Alscon), which belongs to Russian Aluminum, has been postponed until next year because local authorities in Nigeria have not allowed the river by which the plant will receive its raw materials to be dredged. Local authorities object that dredging the river would hurt the fishing industry, which is the main occupation of the residents of the Akwa Ibom Province in which the plant is located.
Director of the Rusal press relations department Vera Kurochkina said that she hopes the problems will be settled in time to start the plant by the end of next January. The plant was originally launched in 1997, but it was shut down after one month due to problems with natural gas and electricity supplies. Rusal bought 77.5 percent of the stock in the company from the Nigerian government in February of this year.
The plant has a capacity of 193,000 tons per year, which is 5 percent of Rusal's total capacity. It includes a port on the Imo River and a gas-powered electric plant. The Nigerian government retains a 15-percent share in the plant, and the German company Ferrostaal AG owns 7.5 percent. Rusal plans to invest $150 million in the plant in the next three years. Every month the plant stands idle represents $42 million in lost revenue.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 14, 2007
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