The restart costs are about $9.5M while the plant’s commissioning budget is approximately $17.5M.
The plant’s capacity is 600kt/y of alumina. In 2011, the pplant’s production is expected to be about 252kt of alumina.
Production was temporarily suspended in April 2009 due to cost-cutting measures. UC Rusal said it had reviewed ways of optimising the facility’s structure and production process, reducing cash operating costs and improving the efficiency of the plant’s operations.
It is expected that the restart of the Windalco-Kirkvine Works Plant will increase the efficiency of the infrastructure in Windalco, including the port and railway, which is only partly used for the Ewarton works at present.
Windalco comprises two alumina refineries (Ewarton Works and Kirkvine Works), a shipping port (Port Esquivel) and bauxite mines in Schwallenburgh (Ewarton) and Russell Place (Kirkvine) and farms in Manchester and St. Ann. The company’s production capacity is 1.2Mt/y.