Rusal is developing a new RUB600mn ($8.6mn) foundry that will include a smelter with an annual capacity of producing 120,000mt of aluminum alloys.
The new foundry will be based out of the aluminum-maker’s Boguchansky aluminum smelter and will produce high-strength alloys for the automotive industry. The high silicon aluminum alloy is already commonplace in the automotive industry in the manufacture of wheels, engine units and various spare parts.
Evgenii Kikitin, Rusal’s chief executive officer, is confident the smelter’s output will satisfy the strong demand, especially from international markets that are showing signs of recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
The smelter will serve automotive markets in Japan, Indonesia, Turkey, South Korea, Germany, and the US, where there’s elevated demand for high silicon aluminum alloys.
The fully-automated complex will also produce ingots by using continuous casting technology, the purpose of which is to purge slag inclusions and other defects that occur in traditional casting methods.
($1=RUB69.89)