Rusal secures loan to finance Taishet aluminium smelter

Russia’s aluminium producer Rusal has secured a RUB 45bn loan agreement to finance the Taishet smelter project.

First tranches of the loan for the aluminium smelter project are already being utilized. The funds will be used to finance capital expenditures for the completion of the first start-up complex at the Taishet smelter (TaAZ).

According to the loan agreement, VTB bank will provide RUB 30bn roubles and Gazprombank RUB 15bn roubles. The term of the agreement is up to 15 years. The full proceeds will be used to finance both the completion of the first TaAZ launch complex and will also partially refinance Rusal’s investments made in 2020.

Oleg Mukhamedshin, director for Strategy and Capital Markets of Rusal, said: “The construction of the Taishet aluminium smelter is one of the priority development projects for the company, a significant part of the costs of which Rusal has provided at its own expense. The funds raised under the agreement with VTB and Gazprombank, will be used to finance the completion of the construction of the smelter, which after commissioning will become one of the most environmentally friendly and high-tech enterprise in the global aluminium industry. Thus, together with the launch of the first stage of the Boguchansky aluminium smelter, the construction of TaAZ will help reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions from aluminium production and increase the share of low-carbon products in the company's portfolio.”

Reducing GHG emissions is a strategic goal of the En+ Group Metals business. To achieve this, the company is modernizing its facilities, introducing the best available production technologies as well as developing new ones. In addition, the company is ramping up production of its low carbon aluminium brand Allow, which has a carbon footprint several times lower than the industry average.

The Taishet aluminium smelter, which is being built by Rusal in the Irkutsk region, will create some 3,000 jobs. At this site, the most advanced technologies in the field of ecology, automation of workplaces, and equipment will be used – control of machines and mechanisms from the loading of alumina, to the packaging of finished ingots will be carried out using artificial intelligence, databases and online monitoring. Aluminium production at TaAZ will be powered by clean renewable hydroelectricity, which will increase the group’s share of low-carbon high-quality aluminium products on the market.

The design capacity of the first launch complex will be 428.500 t of primary aluminium per year. It will start operating in 2021. The Taishet  smelter will produce primary aluminium and alloys in the form of rolling slabs and billets (up to 80 % of total output).