By Daria Sito-Sucic
MOSTAR, Bosnia May 4 (Reuters) - Bosnia's aluminium
producer Aluminij has agreed deals worth a combined 250 million
Bosnian marka ($141.2 million) with Swiss mining company
Glencore Plc and steel group Duferco, enabling it to create a
fully green product, its CEO said in an interview.
Aluminij will sign on Friday deals for building a 60
Megawatt (MW) solar power plant and recycling facility for
aluminium with Glencore, Amir Gross Kabiri told Reuters on
Thursday.
It will also sign agreements for building a new factory for
green aluminium production for the automotive industry and for
the production of aluminium wire with Duferco, he added.
Completion is expected during 2025, he said.
Aluminij, based in the southern town of Mostar, was closed
down in 2019 over accumulated debts but was acquired the next
year by Israeli M.T. Abraham Group, which leased its entire
facilities for 30 years and restarted production.
"Our annual production capacity is 250,000 metric tonnes of
billets, ingots and slabs," said Kabiri, the sole shareholder of
the M.T. Abraham Group. He added output had increased from
75,000 tonnes as the company modernised its equipment from 2020.
Aluminij was Bosnia's largest exporter in 2022, with more
than 1 billion marka worth of exports, and also the largest
importer in the Balkan country.
The company's main goal is to provide fully green products
by 2025.
Aluminij was the first company in the Western Balkans that
completed the Carbon Footprint Certification process, complying
to CO2 footprint standards set for aluminium producers.
The company will start building the solar power plant next
year and it will have independent access to the grid which
should prevent any power blackouts from occurring.
"It will provide us with electricity supply, renewable and
stable, for the cast house, the anode plant and entire factory
operation without electrolysis," Kabiri said.
He added the construction of the Southern gas
inter-connector, bringing natural gas from the LNG terminal at
the Croatian island Krk to Bosnia, would enable the restart of
the long-closed electricity-intensive electrolysis plant. He
said the gas pipeline could be completed in the next three to
five years.
(1$ = 1.771 Bosnian marka)
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic
Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Messaging: daria.sito-sucic.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
