MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Russian aluminum producer Rusal plans to commission Dian-Dian bauxite mine in Guinea with the capacity of 3 mln tonnes per year by spring 2018, alumina business director of the company Yakov Itskov said on Wednesday.
"We look forward to deliveries of first bauxites to our alumina refinery in Ireland by next spring. We can proudly say today that we started bauxite mining [in Dian-Dian deposit - TASS]; first 100,000 tonnes of bauxites [were mined]. We are constructing and producing in parallel," the executive said.
Investments into first two stages of the project are estimated as $216 mln, Itskov said.
Rusal will also invest $130 mln into restart of Friguia bauxite and alumina complex in Guinea halted in 2012, Itskov noted. "If we made decision on its further development, then calculations should be made. The situation is not fully clear. However, deposits of bauxites are good there. The plant owns about 300 mln tonnes of bauxites. This will be enough for 100 years of operations," he said.
The plant is expected to start operations in April. Design capacity of the plant is estimated as 600-650 thousand tonnes of alumina per year, the top manager said.