Komi Aluminium Bauxite and Alumina Complex is the most ambitious construction project in the global industry. This project will include a bauxite mine and a 1.4 mln tonnes-per-annum alumina refinery near the town of Sosnogorsk of the Komi Republic, Russia.

The raw materials for the alumina refinery will be provided by the easily accessible and extensive reserves of the Middle Timan bauxite deposit which is the largest in Russia and Eurasia. The proved reserves of the deposit total 260 mln tonnes and are located 270 km from the Complex. The Middle Timan deposit has a well-developed transport infrastructure (a 157 km rail line) which connects the deposit with the federal railway network. The vast reserves of the Middle Timan bauxite deposit and the developed transport infrastructure with its annual freight handling capacity of 8 mln tonnes will make the Komi Aluminium complex the largest raw materials source in the aluminium industry in both Europe and Asia.

It is also planned to increase bauxite extraction at the Middle Timan from the current 2 mln to over 6 mln tonnes of bauxite per year by 2008.

The start-up of the complex will allow:

• The increase of Russian domestic alumina output by 50% to 4.5 mln tonnes per year
• An increase in the supply of domestically produced raw materials for the Russian aluminium industry from 40% to 70-80%
• Additional investment of USD 25-30 mln into the infrastructure of the Komi Republic
• The creation of 10,000 jobs
• The local region budget benefitting from substantial tax revenues.

Currently, the construction site is in the preparation stage with the infrastructure under development. A number of facilities have already been built, such as a small concrete plant, a transformation station, an automobile road leading to the alumina refinery, a railway linking the Vorkuta-Moscow main line with the smelter construction site, and a station named 1586 km. A new canteen and an administrative centre are being built at the moment.

The smelter construction launch is planned for the second quarter of 2007 after the receipt of the results of the environmental assessment by the Glavgosekspertiza, a state authority.

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