OREANDA-NEWS. UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486; Euronext: RUSAL/RUAL; Moscow Exchange: RUALR), a leading global aluminium producer, announces that it has completed its transaction to obtain the remaining 7% of the property rights of West Indies Alumina Company (WINDALCO). As a result, RUSAL now owns 100% of the complex.

The relevant agreement was reached and signed between RUSAL and the Government of Jamaica in May 2014 as part of RUSAL's asset consolidation programme. The assignment of the 7% stake was completed to partially satisfy the Jamaican government's debt obligations to RUSAL.

'This agreement to fully consolidate the bauxite and alumina complex is in line with RUSAL's strategy to provide its plants with in-house raw materials. WINDALCO is an important raw material supplier of RUSAL's smelters. As part of RUSAL's on-going modernization programme we are planning to upgrade the complex at WINDALCO to increase efficiency, cut production costs and improve alumina quality,' Yakov Itskov, the head of RUSAL's Alumina division, commented.

WINDALCO is located on the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean. Since 2007, RUSAL has owned 93% of the complex. The complex comprises two alumina refineries (Ewarton Works and Kirkvine Works), bauxite mines, a shipping port, Esquivel and farms in Manchester and St. Ann. The production capacity of the company is 1.25 mln tonnes of alumina annually. The complex employs more than 600 people.