Russia is preparing a Leningrad-region alumina refinery, a Taishet anode factory and four smelter upgrades, Industry Minister Anton Alikhanov said on 15 July. Interfax reported a ministry estimate above 980 billion rubles for the refinery and upgrades, separately citing Rusal's $4 billion refinery-and-infrastructure estimate addressing lost raw-material supplies. Aluminium semifinished-product, high-strength rolled-product and special-alloy capacity is under construction. The president-directed programme covers smelters in:
- Bratsk.
- Irkutsk.
- Krasnoyarsk.
- Novokuznetsk.
The earlier refinery announcement
In its June 2023 announcement, Rusal described a planned investment of approximately 400 billion rubles in four alumina production lines and Ust-Luga port infrastructure. The first phase, with capacity of up to 2.4 million tonnes annually, was expected to be commissioned by the end of 2028. A second phase of similar capacity was scheduled for completion in 2032. The company forecast up to 7,500 new regional jobs and development of an urban environment for employees and their families. These were the company's project estimates and phased targets in that earlier announcement.
Taishet construction in the 2022 report
Rusal's 2022 annual report, published on 28 April 2023, described the Taishet Anode Factory project as under active implementation, with design capacity of approximately 400,000 tonnes of pre-baked anodes a year. Major equipment was being delivered and construction and installation were proceeding at production, auxiliary and infrastructure facilities. In 2022, basic elements of coke-calcination kilns were installed, along with equipment in the anode-baking shop. Work on a waste-heat boiler was underway. The company presented the project as supporting raw-material security and reducing primary aluminium production costs.
Reported production and modernization in 2023
The 2023 annual report, published on 26 April 2024, recorded 3.848 million tonnes of primary aluminium and 5.134 million tonnes of alumina. Alumina output fell 13.8%. At Taishet, 85 additional electrolysis cells were commissioned in 2023, bringing the year-end total to 166. The report also described a ten-year transformation of Siberian smelters using pre-baked-anode technology and proprietary electrolysis equipment. Design documentation for the Krasnoyarsk and Bratsk modernization projects received positive conclusions from both state environmental and main state expert reviews during 2023.
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