Kazakhstan may start the construction of aluminum plant in March of 2001

/IRBIS, Sep.5, 00/ - REUTERS informs, with the reference to the head of Pavlodar region, Galymjan Jakiyanov, that the construction of aluminum plant in Kazakhstan may start in March of next year after design and calculations are made. He said that total investments into the construction of the plant with 215 th. ton a year capacity would be around $800 mln to $1 bln and it would last for 2-3 years. He added that at the moment talks are conducted with Japanese and Chinese investors. Presently, the country produces only limestone in Pavlodar, which is then exported to the Russian aluminum plants for further processing, is said. Current limestone production is at 1.2 mln tons a year which can be turned into 600 th. tons of aluminum and this figure is to be increased up to 1.5 mln tons, said the head of the region. Last week the prime-minister Kasymjomart Tokaev met with the representatives of Japanese Mitsui and Canadian CNC Lavalin which are also interested in building aluminum plant and agreed to complete its business plan by the end of the year. Mr. Jakiyanov says new plant will be around ten kilometers from limestone plant next to the airport. OJSC Aliuminii Kazakhstana is said to be a member of Eurasian bank group and unites Pavlodar aluminum plant producing limestone and a few mines and power supply objects of the region. Public relations department of the company informs that in seven months of this year the production increased by 5% with respect to similar period of 1999, at 698,875 tons compared with 665,700 tons in January-July of 1999. The company has 10,587 workers with their average wage of KZT25,591.0.