Moscow, 18 December 2003: Ural Aluminium Smelter (UAZ), part of SUAL Group — one of the world’s top-ten aluminium producers — announces today the successful completion of its new pre-baked anode potline, following an investment of some USD 40 million.

The new potline will increase average annual primary aluminium output at the smelter by 35,000 tonnes.

Consisting of 162 ’pots’ or ’cells’, the potline is used in the production of primary aluminium to reduce alumina, through an electrochemical process, which then becomes molten aluminium. In addition, the potline is also fitted with a new gas scrubbing system, which uses alumina powder to de-fluorinate the gas formed in the production process, so that it conforms to international environmental standards.

The construction of the potline was completed on time, within budget and without disruption to the day-to-day running and operation of the plant.

Chris Norval, President of SUAL Holding, said: “Completion of this new potline demonstrates SUAL’s commitment to upgrading its production assets, and our ability to complete projects on time and within budget. The investment programme at Ural Aluminium also further strengthens the industrial base of the Sverdlovsk Region.”

Speaking at the ceremony marking the opening of the potline, Boris Smolyanitsky, Director General of UAZ, said: “Today we are witnessing the further regeneration of Ural Aluminium, with a step change in the plant’s technological and productive capacity. The investment will help ensure the ongoing competitiveness of our aluminium smelting operations.”

The plant, situated near Kamensk-Uralsky, the third largest town in Sverdlovsk Region and 100 km south-east of Yekaterinburg, was originally opened in 1939 and has been extensively modernised and expanded since then. Ural Aluminium’s quality control system is ISO 9001 certified.

Notes to Editors

The SUAL Group is a vertically integrated business listed among the top-ten largest aluminium producers of the world. It comprises 20 operations in 9 regions of Russia.

Annually, operations of the SUAL Group:

• mine some 4 million tonnes of bauxite;
• refine approximately 2 million tonnes of alumina
• produce more than 860,000 tonnes of primary aluminium
• produce some 50,000 tonnes of silicon
• manufacture more than 105,000 tonnes of aluminium products.