National Daily

ALSCON imports alumina

From: EFFIONG USORO, Uyo

THE Rusia Aluminum (RUSAL) company which is managing the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigerian (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State said it has received a shipment of 4015 metric tones of alumnina from its UC Rusal alminia plant in Guinea.

A statement signed by sergey Zamotaylov on behave of the company said the shipment of alimina to the company was the first since its begun operation five months ago. It noted that the company had been using its old stock of alumina for production adding that the plant has so far produced 1,800 tonnes of ingots from the 33 pots that are currently operational. According to the release, the company has concluded plans to reactivate 140 pots out of the installed 432 pots.

The release quoted the managing director of the company, Mr Andrey Partyanskiy as saying that the arrival of the first alumina shipment marks a significant milestone for the company as the company has achieved its strategic goal of creating a full production circle in West Africa.

National Daily gathered that the UC RUSAL has a large scale bauxite mining and Alumina refinery plant in Conakry, Guinea. The reporter notes that the ships carrying the alumina from Guinea were docked in Onne port in Rivers state while the products were transported by road to the ALSCON plant in Ikot Abasi. Investigations by National Daily reveals that the shipment of finished ingots out of the company and the importation of alimina into the company is seriously being hampered because of the non-dredging of the Imo River to facilitate large ships to dock at the ALSCON Port which situates at the estuary of the Imo River