UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 15, 2011. The first ten electrolysis tanks at UC RUSAL Krasnoturyinsk-based Bogoslovsky smelter will be shut down as soon as today, which can only mean one thing: UC RUSAL decided to do away with Buildings 1-4 at the smelter, Vecherny Krasnoturyinsk reports.

According to the newspaper, Building 1 contains at least 130 electrolysis tanks, and these will be shut down step-by-step: ten tanks every three or four days.

‘This means that in a month, or a in a month and a half, Building 1 will stop operating altogether. Once the tanks have been shut down, some of the workers out of the total of 150 will have to start dismantling the tanks. A source in the enterprise said off the record that a portion of workers will be transferred to Division 6 and redistributed among the remaining electrolysis buildings,’ the newspaper says.

RUSAL refutes allegations that the electrolysis production at the Bogoslovsk Alumnium Smelter has been shutdown. The Company is currently carrying out optimization of non-profitable production to raise its efficiency as part of a general production cost-cutting program.

UC RUSAL Bogoslovsky smelter might close electrolysis department