RUSAL parent company showing signs of financial collapse

Dec 17, 2008 News

… new alumina refinery in Guyana may be scrapped as unaffordable – Asia Times

Oleg Deripaska, until recently Russia’s richest oligarch, is currently showing small signs of financial collapse, which is triggering fresh moves by rivals and critics to the company from Nigeria and the Republic of Guinea (Conakry).
A global asset sell-off is being considered by the Kremlin as reported by the Asia Times as the government’s condition for rescuing Deripaska from bankruptcy.
This could result in the costly mining and refining commitments of Deripaska’s United Company Rusal in the Americas – expansion of bauxite mining and a new alumina refinery in Guyana, expansion of both bauxite and alumina production in Jamaica, and a billion-dollar promise to build a new aluminum smelter in Venezuela – being scrapped as unaffordable.
The agreement for the refinery in Guyana was initialled in 2004 and consummated by 2006, and the locally registered subsidiary of Rusal, Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI), proceeded quietly with the mining operations.
The Guyana Government retained a 10 percent share of BCGI.
Last year President Bharrat Jagdeo visited Russia and said that he would discuss with the operators of Rusal the possibility of investing in an alumina plant in Berbice.
Since the first contacts with Rusal, the company has grown through mergers with other aluminium producers to become one of the three largest producers of that metal in the world.
On March 31, 2006, RUSAL acquired the assets of the Aroaima Mining Company (AMC) and obtained the financial and production activities of the Guyanese company under its regulation, as well as most of its property, infrastructure and deposits with aggregate reserves of 96 million tonnes of bauxite.
Guyana is the fifth largest world exporter of bauxite after Australia, Jamaica, Guinea and Suriname.
The largest volume of bauxite is produced at the Aroaima mine managed by BCGI, which is located in the area of the Berbice River.
A relatively small amount of bauxite is also produced at the Montgomery mine around Linden, to the south of Georgetown. Besides, Guyana has reserves of manganese and iron ores, gold and diamonds at its disposal.
Currently geologists are actively studying the availability of other natural resources in the country. Guyana also possesses considerable hydropower resources.
According to the company website: “We consider Guyana as a region of strategic importance for our company and are looking at opportunities for expanding our presence in the country, as well as launching and developing new projects…RUSAL has completed the verification geological works at the Moblissa-Bamia and Tiger Jump bauxite deposits, which belong to the Linden deposit group.”
According to the preliminary assessment, the aggregate reserves of deposits may amount to over 100 million tonnes of bauxite, which is sufficient for providing raw material to the refinery with a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes of alumina per year for over 25 years. The feasibility of constructing such a refinery based on the Linden deposit group will be analysed by the results of the draft feasibility study. The decision on the execution of the study will be made based on the verification drilling results.
The company also owns licences for the exploration of the Ituni deposit group, which has potential reserves of about 100 million tonnes.
The verification drilling of the deposit group was started at the end of 2006 and is ongoing.

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RUSAL parent company showing signs of financial collapse

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