MOSCOW — RusAl is considering the opportunity to acquire new bauxite-mining assets, Steven Hodgson, director of the company's alumina division, has stated at a briefing today. He said that the company was getting ready to sign a memorandum of understanding with the government of Venezuela, where RusAl proposes to set up an alumina plant alongside a bauxite-mining development. The date for signing the memorandum has not yet been settled.

Furthermore, a due-diligence analysis of Indian aluminum and ore-mining plants owned by the Vedanta company in the state of Rusan is being held. Also, the company is weighing up a number of productive bauxite deposits in Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Hodgson reiterated that RusAl had launched a joint venture together with the Guyana government for mining bauxites to be refined at RusAl's Nikolayev alumina plant.