Rusal America Corporation (RAC) has announced it has entered into a five-year partnership with Almexa, a leading manufacturer of aluminium rolled products in Latin America, for a 100,000 ton low-carbon primary aluminium slab contract.
En+ Group, the biggest and lowest cost producer of aluminium outside of China, is the parent company of Rusal America. To date, Rusal America has already delivered 4,800 metric tons of the world’s greenest aluminium slabs under its flagship ultra-low-carbon aluminium brand ALLOW.
“With the growing demand for sustainable products, companies are sourcing materials that reduce the carbon footprint of their products across the entire value chain,” said Brian Hesse, President and CEO of Rusal America.
“Lightweight, durable and infinitely recyclable, aluminium is the metal of the future low-carbon economy. We are proud to partner with Almexa, a company that shares our commitment to doing the right thing, and collaborating in a true partnership that will deliver innovation, value and efficiency to its customer end-users.”
En+ Group is the second largest supplier of a vital industrial commodity for North America’s manufacturers, reliably supplying the US economy with more than 300,000 tons of environmentally friendly, low carbon aluminium every year largely as a result of the Group’s hydropower resource that generates 16 GW of power. For comparison, the Hoover Dam in Nevada generates 2 GW of power.
The contract will provide Almexa slabs to feed its existing plant in Mexico City, which will position the company as one of the greenest and most cost competitive mills in North America – and underscores the growing determination among leading manufacturers to source materials in a socially and environmentally sustainable manner. Rusal America’s low-carbon aluminium helps North American companies minimise environmental risks across the supply chain and reduce their carbon footprint.
“Our partnership with Rusal America has been the cornerstone of our new company growth strategy,” said Mike Otero, CEO of Almexa and a member of the Aluminum Associations’ Board of Directors. “Rusal America has helped Almexa at every step of the process – from our initial conversations, to coordinating the first loads of slab hitting the port of Veracruz, Mexico in record time. Our experience with Rusal America has been amazing from not only the product perspective, but also the delivery and technical follow-up. Almexa is proud to call Rusal America a business partner and we look forward to growing with them as we triple our output over the next 24 months.”
The average emissions for EN+ Group’s green aluminium are 2.4 tCO2e/tAl for all sources related to producing aluminium from alumina at smelters, compared to the average carbon emissions for Chinese aluminium at 16.2 tCO2e/tAl; and the world average of 12.6 tCO2e/tAl. The company also recently announced its ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across all global operations by 2050. It plans to achieve a 35% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030, representing the most ambitious carbon reduction targets yet seen in the global aluminium industry and setting a new standard in one of the most energy intensive industries in the global economy.