This was stated by Oleg Vaitman, Deputy General Director of Rusal, during a round table of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy "Anti-crisis legislation and strategic development of Domestic metallurgy."
Illustrative photo: Photo: "Rusal".
For us, as a company seriously focused on imported raw materials, our industry is structured in such a way that bauxite (bauxite deposits are located — approx. Interfax news agency) around the equator, - the opportunity to develop deposits outside the country, in friendly jurisdictions, is critically important, Oleg Vaitman said.
"It would be advisable to provide not only the possibility of supporting projects related to the export of products, but also to develop our assets abroad, import products into the country, process and supply to foreign markets."About 50% of the volume of bauxite produced by Rusal (processed into aluminum oxide (alumina), from which aluminum is obtained by electrolysis) is provided by enterprises in Guinea. RUSAL controls the Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia (CBK) in Guinea (2.9 million tons per year), the Dian-Dian deposit (3.1 million tons), as well as the Friguia bauxite-alumina complex (1.4 million tons).
The Dian-Dian deposit. Photo: "Rusal".
According to the results of last year, the total production of bauxite at Rusal increased by 19%, to 15.9 million tons, due to the expansion of the CBK capacity and the Dian-Dian deposit. Alumina production increased by 25.3% to 6.43 million, due to the purchase of a 30% stake in the Chinese alumina plant Hebei Wenfeng New Materials (HWNM).
Buy a stake in a Chinese alumina plant (for $316 million) Rusal had to deal with problems obtaining raw materials after the company lost access to the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant and alumina supplies from Australia in 2022 - these sources together accounted for about 40% of the company's alumina consumption.
In addition, in the spring of 2025, Rusal entered into an agreement with Indian companies Pioneer and KCap to purchase the Pioneer Aluminum Industries Limited alumina enterprise with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year. Rusal's subsidiary will acquire up to 50% of Pioneer in three stages, including 26% at the first stage for $243.75 million plus adjustments for the amount of the company's working capital and debt. All subsequent stages of the transaction will be paid for by pro rata. Sellers and Rusal intend to supply bauxite to Pioneer and receive alumina from it in proportion to their participation shares.
The profitability of alumina supplies is vulnerable, including due to problems with the capacity of the railway infrastructure, it was previously stated.
