Rusal invests US$ 24 million in calcined coke plant at Irkutsk Aluminium Smelter

<p style="text-align: left;" align="center">UC RUSAL has announced the investment of USD 23.7 million to launch a new calciner at the Irkutsk Aluminium Smelter.</p> <p style="text-align: center;" align="center"><img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/Irkutsk%20Aluminium%20Smelter.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /></p> <p>Decision was taken in 2015 to upgrade calciner #2 at IrkAZ in order to supply calcined coke to the Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter to make pre-baked anodes. Production capacity of the calciner was 72 ktpa.</p> <p>RUSAL has calcination capacity in IrkAZ as well as the Bratsk and Krasnoyarsk Aluminium Smelters. BrAZ and KrAZ produced about 800 kt of calcined coke in 2016 fulfilling about 61% of the total demand of RUSAL's aluminium smelters. After the launch of calciner #2 at IrkAZ, 71% of the Rusal&rsquo;s calcinatory demand will be meted out in-house.</p> <p>&ldquo;By increasing our in-house capacity for calcined coke production, RUSAL will be able to gradually abandon the supplies from third parties and cut costs by USD 8 million a year. The company is planning to further increase its petroleum coke production, thus allowing RUSAL to completely abandon its imported supplies in two to three years,&rdquo; said Evgeny Nikitin, Head of Aluminium Business.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a title="potline report" href="http://www.alcircle.com/primary_aluminium/newscircle/general/detail/28445/the-wait-is-over-alcircle-exclusive-report-on-potline-failure-now-available-for-purchase" target="_blank"><img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/buynow.gif" alt="News" width="480" height="84" /></a></p> <p>Currently Russia is running short of calcination capacity at present forcing consumers to purchase calcined coke from China at high prices.&nbsp;</p>