Sual open to 'sensible' opportunity at Coega
September 13, 2004
By Nicky Smith
Johannesburg - Privately owned Russian aluminium company Sual Holdings would consider a smelter at Coega "if a sensible opportunity" presented itself, Sual's chief executive, Brian Gilbertson, said last week"Firstly, you would have to be sure it was in the interests of the shareholders. They are there to make money," he said.
"[But] I think what would make it interesting is that Sual has a particular technology which is a set of large pots ... The design of the pot and the technology used is critical in efficiency and for environmental reasons.
"Sual is running these pots and testing them." Sual, which is Russia's second-largest aluminium producer, produced about 900 000 tons of aluminium last year.
A smelter at Coega has been touted for the better part of the past decade. In the late 1990s it was going to be a zinc smelter. Gilbertson was linked to the development of that smelter when he was head of Billiton.
Asked whether he thought Coega would ever have a smelter, Gilbertson said: "You put smelters where the power is cheap ... I think Coega has the last tranche of cheap power."
He said questions that needed to be asked about investment in an aluminium smelter were whether it could be financed and had alumina supplies.
"I'm not here to build Coega, I'm here to run Sual. But if there was a sensible opportunity ... Sual would look at it."
Anik Michaud, a spokesperson for Alcan, said the company expected to be in a position to make an announcement on the possible investment in a $2 billion aluminium smelter at Coega.
Alcan and Pechiney merged in July last year. The merger put a spoke in the wheel of the Pechiney investment, which had practically been given the go-ahead.
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