Eurallumina relaunch still stalled: energy issue and frozen assets weigh heavily

The EUR 300 million relaunch of Eurallumina's bauxite refinery in Portovesme still hangs in the balance. The two knots concerning the start of the restructuring programme preparatory to the restart of the plant, the first link in the aluminium chain, have not yet been untied. This concerns the freezing of the assets of the company controlled by the Russian Rusal, carried out by the SFC (the financial security committee) as part of the sanctions against Russia.

Faced with the first measure, the company had appealed to the TAR. The appeal was accepted by the judges of the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio, but then recently rejected by the Council of State.

'It is clear that a problem arises at this point, because in light of what is happening, everything is hanging by a thread,' says Francesco Garau, secretary of Filctem Sardegna. Our hope is that the company wants to continue with the investments. And that is why we are calling for immediate government intervention. It must say whether this project carried out by Eurallumina should go ahead. And the company must also be put in a position to continue with the relaunch project'.

The Eurallumina plant, until its shutdown in March 2009 due to the high cost of the fuel oil needed to keep the plants running, was involved in transforming bauxite into alumina (the material from which primary aluminium is made). After the stoppage, social shock absorbers were triggered for the workers and various projects to restructure the plants and use steam were started.

The latest project to upgrade the facilities and restructure the production cycle, which is expected to operate thanks to the use of gas, envisages investments of €300 million and an employment spin-off, including direct, indirect and induced employment, of about 1,500 people.