Azerbaijan Begins Construction Of Steel, Aluminum Smelters

MOSCOW (Dow Jones)-Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has inaugurated the construction of a steel smelter and a new aluminum smelting facility in the city of Gyandja, the presidential press service said Monday.

Building work on the steel smelter will begin this year and it will be completed in 2011. It will cost $800 million and will have the capacity to produce 1 million metric tons of steel a year.

The new aluminum smelting facility will be built in 2008–2009 at a cost of $230 million by Det.Al LTD with the participation of CNEC of China.

The facility will have an annual capacity of 60,000 tons a year so that Det.Al LTD’s annual output will reach 160,000 tons.