Moscow, 2 July 2004: Kamensk-Uralsky Metallurgical Plant (KUMZ), part of the SUAL Group, one of the world’s top ten aluminium producers, has been awarded ISO 14001:96 for environmental management and OHSAS 18001:99 for its occupational health and safety systems, following an audit by the Russian Register Certification Association.

KUMZ is now one of the very few Russian metallurgical plants to be certified ISO 9001 (it received the quality management system in 1998), ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

«We acknowledge the plant team's high level of professionalism,» said the Director of the Russian Register Association Alexander Vladimirtsev. «Certification for compliance with these international standards will improve the plant's competitiveness and strengthen its position in the sales markets.»

Alexei Shkolnikov, Director General of KUMZ, added: «These certificates will give KUMZ additional competitive advantages. We have proved that our plant conforms with the increasing requirements of our international customers, in terms of both the high quality of our products and our improved production facilities.»

— Ends - Notes to Editors:

Kamensk-Uralsky Metallurgical Plant (Kamensk-Uralsky, Sverdlovsk Region) is the second largest producer of value-added aluminium products in Russia. The plant produces a large variety of products for the motor, aviation and space industries.

The SUAL Group is a vertically integrated business and is one of the world's top ten largest aluminium producers.

Annually, operations of the SUAL Group: • Mine some 4.4 million tonnes of bauxite • Refine more than 2 million tonnes of alumina • Produce 890,000 tonnes of primary aluminium • Produce 50,000 tonnes of silicon • Manufacture 110,000 tonnes of aluminium products.

Russian Register Certification Association is a central certification agency for management systems of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, one of the largest classification associations in the world. Russian Register delivers a variety of services in certification, including: • Quality management (ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949:2002, TL 9000) • Environmental management (ISO 14001) • Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS 18001) • Food safety management based on HASSP principles (GOST R 51705.21-2001, DS 3027) • Social responsibility management (SA 8000) • Information Security management (ISO 17799, BS 7799) • Integrated management systems.

SUAL Group Contacts: Bill Spears: +44 (0)20 7849 5593 B.spears@sual.com Maxim Titov: +7 (095) 933 0200 M.titov@sual.com