RUSAL has offered RusHydro a 50% stake in a project to complete construction of the Taishet Aluminum Smelter in the Irkutsk region, CEO Vladislav Solovyov reported on June 5.

“We have made our proposal for RusHydro as comfortable as possible. Their participation in the project almost does not require financial expenses at the moment. Tariffs will be market-based. We want them to enter the project as a shareholder with a 50% stake, but funds for the construction will be borrowed from a bank. On the whole, we have restructured the deal in the most profitable way for RusHydro. But I can’t talk about details, this is a commercial secret,” he said.

RUSAL’s board of directors already approved investing $38.5 million in preparatory works.

Construction of the facility with a projected annual production capacity of 750,000 tons of aluminum started in 2006, but was frozen in 2009 on the back of the global economic crisis. RUSAL has already invested over $760 million of its own funds, while the entire cost of the project is estimated at $1.4-1.6 billion.

RUSAL expects an aluminum price in the range of $1,900-2,000 per ton until the end of 2017, Solovyov also said, adding that demand for aluminum remained stable. (Prime/Ukrainian metal)

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