CHINYA-VORYK – The Russian aluminum company SUAL is taking extreme steps to link its mines and smelters by laying a railway in the freezing north, an area known better for Gulag prison camps and thick taiga forest.

SUAL, the second-largest aluminum company in Russia, is laying more than 150 km of rail to connect a bauxite mine to one of Russia's main lines and then to a smelter. It is to be Russia's first post-Soviet private railway.

"In the previous 10 months, we have built 10 km of the railway. We have also cut down trees along 80 km of the line, and we have prepared terrain for another 30 km," SUAL President Viktor Vekselberg told reporters at this railway station.

"Laying rails is a fast process, you can lay one km of rail per day. But the main work is the preparation for the laying of the rail," he said, wielding a sledgehammer to bang a piece of rail together while a military band played along.

As he spoke to mark the building of the first stretch, the temperature stood at minus-17 degrees Celsius, quite mild for the north of Russia, where minus 40 is common.

The aim is to connect the Sredni Timan mine, which has estimated reserves of 260 million tons of bauxite, in the Northern Komi republic, to the nearest railway, the main line from Moscow to the northern mining town of Vorkuta.

The company stressed the isolation of the place by erecting a special sign at the ceremony, showing that Moscow was 1,470 km away and London 5,000.

Despite the difficulties of the terrain and conditions, Vekselberg was confident. "We are working strictly according to the schedule and will fulfill all our plans in time," he said.

The project, which started last April, is due to be completed in December 2002. The work is to cost around $100 million.

SUAL EXPANDING

SUAL, which owns aluminum smelters in Siberia, the Urals and northwestern Russia, has a monopoly in Russia on mining of bauxite, a raw material from which alumina is derived to produce aluminum. It has enough to supply its own plants and others.

Russia's largest aluminum producer, Russian Aluminum (Russky Aluminy), has to import most of its bauxite for its alumina plants in Russia and neighboring Ukraine and also buys some alumina from SUAL.

The bauxite mine fits into SUAL's plan to build an alumina factory in Komi, expected to cost around $700-$800 million.

It has started talks with aluminum majors, Pechiney and Alcan, on the Komi plant and has persuaded Russian Aluminum to take part in it.

Vekselberg was also confident about this project. "The alumina price is pegged to the aluminum price. That is quite stable and has been on the rise of late," Vekselberg said.

NOTORIOUS NORTH

When flying by helicopter to the village of Chinya-Voryk from the nearest airport, Ukhta, wooden watchtowers and barracks are visible below.

These are the local remains of the Gulag, a vast system of penal colonies built up by former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. The brutal life of the Gulag, where millions of political prisoners were held,was recorded in Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," based on his labour camp experiences.

The name Chinya-Voryk also has a place in literature. This camp was described by author Sergei Dovlatov in a short story called "Old Hen Baked in Clay," which recounted how inmates were constantly hungry. The author, who emigrated to New York, where he died in 1990, served as a guard in Chinya-Voryk.