Representatives of the Russian RUSAL aluminum company expressed their readiness to cooperate with Iran in the production of alumina powder from nepheline syenite. Talks with Mehdi Karbasian, managing director of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, are set to continue during the visit of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who arrived in Tehran on Monday, IMIDRO reported on Sunday. The cooperation would highly benefit Iran’s aluminum sector, as nepheline syenite can replace bauxite as the raw material required for alumina production. This is while Iran’s aluminum industry has long sought to counter the limitations caused by the country’s meager reserves of bauxite and reliance on alumina imports. Reserves of about 1.2 billion tons of nepheline syenite have recently been discovered in Sarab City of East Azarbaijan Province and investments have been made to start extraction. Based on the 20-Year Vision Plan (2005-25), Iran aims to increase aluminum production to 1.5 million tons per year. RUSAL is the second largest producer of aluminum in the world after China’s Hongqiao Group.
