Brazilian mining giant Vale on Wednesday said its board of directors had approved plans for an alumina refinery in the far northern state of Para, costing $2.2 billion in its first phase.
The plant, with an initial annual production capacity of 1.86 million metric tons of alumina will begin construction in October and is expected to begin operations in the first half of 2011, Vale said in a statement.
The company has a subsidiary, Alunorte, which operates an alumina refinery five kilometers from the site of the new plant to be named the Para Alumina Company (CAP). It will be able to expand production capacity to up to 7.4 million tonnes a year.
The company's board also announced it has approved an investment of $487 million to exploit a third section of its Paragominas bauxite mine which will supply the new refinery.
CAP will be 80 percent owned by Vale and the remainder will be owned by Norway's Hydro Aluminium. That will take the mine's capacity up to 14.85 million tonnes per year from 9.9 presently once it begins operations, also due in 2011.
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