Sardinia

Eurallumina, Rusal stop resources for day-to-day operations

10 September 2025

2' min read

The stop is for ordinary management, but the risk is that the EUR 300 million relaunch project of the Eurallumina plant in Portovesme, the first link in the aluminium chain, could founder. Rusal, the Russian company that owns the plant, which until 2009 transformed bauxite into alumina, has announced that it is no longer willing to guarantee the advance payment of resources for ordinary administration and to keep the factory going. This is a monthly sum of between EUR 2.2 and 2.5 million. Eurallumina's management made the position official during a formal meeting with union representatives.

Important sums given that, as the trade unions point out, from 2009 to the last month, the Russian group has spent more than 300 million euros in Portovesme to keep the plant running and to guarantee the payment of social security supplements.

Frozen funds and shares

At the heart of the dispute are two us to unravel. One 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. A fact that 'slows down' all operations concerning the day-to-day running of the factory. And the available resources might just be enough for the next two months.

Energy node

The other problem to be solved concerns the energy supply through gas, which is indispensable for steam production. Paving the way for the arrival of methane should be the Dpcm that has yet to be dismissed by the government.

The stop in 2009 and the race to restart

The Eurallumina plant was stopped in March 2009 due to the high cost of fuel oil used for energy production.

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 1.5 thousand people.

The requests

After the announcement, there was an assembly with the workers who relaunched their mobilisation, asking for an urgent meeting with the government to deal with the dispute. "We don't want an important investment plan like the one planned by Eurallumina to founder because of delays,' say the representatives of Filctem, Femca and Uiltec.