9 December
MOSCOW,
Press Release

Moscow, 9 December 2008 — UC RUSAL, the world’s largest producer of alumina and aluminium, has announced an expansion of the RA-400 pilot area at the Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter to test several new RA-400T cells that will be used at the Taishet aluminium smelter, which is currently under construction. The RA-400T upgrade and operational testing programme has cost the company approximately USD 35 mln.

The RA-400Т has been designed by UC RUSAL’s Engineering and Technology Centre for the greenfield Taishet aluminium smelter whose construction is underway. This technology is an upgrade of the basic RA-400, which was first installed at the Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter in 2005 and is now ready for mass use.

With its daily aluminium output of three tonnes, the RA-400T will become the most productive cell in the world’s aluminium industry. The start-up of a new RA-400T cell does not require a power cut for the entire potline, which gives it a significant advantage. This innovative project took over two years and was a winning combination of the best engineering solutions, practical experience from previous projects (RA-300 and RA-400) and an analysis of similar foreign projects.

Compared with the RA-400, the new technology is less energy-intensive, has a lighter busbar and shorter cell-to-cell distance, which allows shop floor space to be saved inside a potroom. The modernised alumina point feeding system also has a longer service life and consumes less compressed air.

Tests on the new cells in Sayanogorsk will help the company’s engineers assess their reliability, start-up methods and also train the staff to service these new cells before they are installed at the Taishet aluminium smelter.

About the aluminium smelters

Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter (SAZ), located in the Republic of Khakassia, was launched in 1985 and is currently UC RUSAL’s third largest aluminium production site. SAZ was awarded the ISO 9001 and ISO/TS 16949 certificates (quality management), the ISO 14001 certificate (environmental management) and the OHSAS 18 001 (health and safety management).

UC RUSAL’s Taishet Aluminium Smelter is a 750 ktpa greenfield aluminium smelter (an ongoing construction project supervised by the company’s Engineering and Construction Division) near Irkutsk (Eastern Siberia). The planned project budget is approximately USD 2 bln. The new facility will be comprised of four potrooms equipped with the company’s latest in-house developments (RA-400), casthouse, anode-rodding shop, gas scrubbers and other required infrastructure.
 
About UC RUSAL

United Company RUSAL (www.rusal.com) is the global leader in the aluminium industry and accounts for approximately 12% and 15% of the global production of aluminium and alumina respectively. The company was founded in March 2007 through the merger of RUSAL, SUAL and the alumina assets of Glencore. UC RUSAL sells its products in 70 countries worldwide and employs 100,000 people in 19 countries across five continents.