MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's United Company RusAl, the world's largest aluminum producer, said on Thursday it had invested over $20 million in an aluminum smelter in Nigeria.
RusAl acquired a controlling stake in the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in February 2007 and launched a large-scale modernization program at the enterprise, which had been idle for eight years. Modernization included the efforts to complete the enterprise's construction and improve existing production technologies.
UC RusAl, which became the world's largest aluminum producer after a March 2007 merger between RusAl, rival Sual and Swiss Glencore's alumina assets, plans to invest about $150 million in the Nigeria facility in the next three years.
The Nigerian smelter is expected to reach its designed capacity of 197,000 metric tons of aluminum annually by late 2010.
