The specialists of copper works of Kyshtym (part of Russian Copper Company) held the first project meeting with Southwire Company executives concerning the potential production of copper rods on March 7 to 9, 2006. The Russian Copper Company is planning to invest $ 20 million.

The capacity of the shop should come up to 12 tonnes of rods per hour (75,000 tonnes a year), which is not the upper limit. The introduction of the new shop will have provided for 160,000 tonnes of rods annually by June 2007.

The meeting was devoted to the issues of design, logistics, supplies and building and assembly jobs. The construction is to start in November 2006 and should have been completed by June 2007.

‘This is a perfect project for all the parties involved as it is up-to-date, is backed up by financial and special resources and isn’t going to be over-expensive for Southwire Company; so it’s mutually beneficial,’ said R&D Director Yuriy Filippov.

‘We’ve had some good experience working with Russian Copper Company, for example while doing the similar project in Novgorod; we do appreciate the professionalism and experience of our Russian colleagues and hope for further fruitful cooperation,’ said Southwire Company representative Bill Branson.