The Rusal smelter in Kandalaksha might be an exception, unlike the other industrial enterprises at the Kola Peninsula which are not greatly known for their tidiness, efficiency or environmental standards. The industrial plant shines bright into the Arctic landscape from the southern part of the Murmansk Oblast, where it is located. The 60 year old industrial plant was recently renovated and has taken prestige in their tidiness since then.

The company representative Vladimir Llyusha, during a visit in September said to BarentsObserver, “We take prestige in our tidiness with colleagues in other Rusal units being envious to us and thinking that we tend to over exaggerate.” Since the financial issues back in 2008, the Russian economy has been shook up, with production dropping sharply and the job cuts being massive. Llyusha admits that the future for the aluminium industry is uncertain. The company use to buy from Norwegian Hydro, good quality anode material, however, now acquires cheaper and less high quality material from China.

Following a major company restructuring plan, the only Rusal unit left in the Northwest Russia will be the Kandalaksha plant. There are several plants all over the country on the verge of closure, with Kandalaksha neighbouring plant ‘Nadvoitsky’, about to close leaving several hundreds of people jobless. For the Kandalaksha plant, the future is not bleak with company representative Llyusha being optimistic.

The company is now investing in new technology which will allow the plant to transform and become a major producer of electrical wire/cable. Soon the company will be able to offer Russia and the rest of the market, top quality wires available in 9 different sizes, after all German and Italian equipment has been installed. It is intended that by 2015, the whole plant will be transformed to the new production with Llyusha stating confidently that, “we will make profits, with this new production.”

Rusal is the biggest producer of aluminium with it accounting for roughly 9% of the global primary aluminium output. Rusal employs about 72,500 people with company units in 19 countries.