Producer
United Company RUSAL
World's 2nd-largest primary aluminum producer outside China; 3.7 Mt/year (~6-7% global supply). Operates primarily in Siberia with access to low-cost hydroelectric power. Subject to US OFAC sanctions in 2018 (lifted Jan 2019 after Deripaska ownership restructuring); UK/EU restrictions from 2022 Ukraine war. ~80% of capacity in Russia.
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Primary Aluminum Smelting (Siberian Hydro)
55%Alumina Refining (Global Portfolio)
22%Bauxite Mining (Guinea, Jamaica, Russia)
12%Nornickel Stake (~27% ownership)
8%Silicon Metal & Specialty Alloys
3%
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Did you know2023
RUSAL holds ~27.8% of Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) — the world's largest producer of palladium (~40% of global supply) and high-grade nickel (~11% of global supply). This means sanctioning the world's second-largest aluminum producer (RUSAL) simultaneously disrupts the cash flows of the world's largest palladium supplier (Nornickel). When the US sanctioned RUSAL in April 2018 and again with broader Russia sanctions in 2022, automotive catalytic converter manufacturers (who depend on palladium from Nornickel) faced supply uncertainty — not because Nornickel was directly sanctioned, but because RUSAL's dividend receipts from Nornickel became legally complicated. An aluminum company is an invisible chokepoint in the palladium supply chain that catalysts for every gasoline-powered vehicle depend on. The RUSAL-Nornickel web means aluminum, palladium, platinum, nickel, and cobalt supply chains are all coupled through Russian ownership structures.
United Company RUSAL Plc ↗Incident2019
In April 2018, the US Treasury OFAC sanctioned RUSAL (Oleg Deripaska-controlled), the world's largest aluminum producer outside China (~6% of global alumina). The sanctions caused RUSAL's stock to collapse 50% and threatened to halt supply to European and US aluminum consumers. Sanctions were modified in January 2019 after Deripaska reduced his ownership stake — but the episode demonstrated that a single regulatory action can trigger alumina supply crisis across multiple continents.
MINING.COM ↗Capacity2018
RUSAL's Irish facility — Aughinish Alumina on the Shannon Estuary — is Ireland's largest industrial site and a critical alumina supplier for European aluminum smelters. When US OFAC imposed sanctions on RUSAL in April 2018, Irish government ministers flew to Washington to lobby against enforcement that would shut Aughinish. The Irish economy minister warned that Aughinish closure would be 'catastrophic' for regional employment. The European Commission lobbied for modifications. Within days, OFAC granted special licenses allowing Aughinish to continue operating temporarily. This episode demonstrated how sanctions on a Russian metals company could inadvertently threaten industrial supply chains in NATO ally economies — and how Western governments had failed to map the geographic spread of Russian metal assets into domestic industrial infrastructure.
Reuters ↗Origin2023
United Company RUSAL was formed in 2007 by the merger of Oleg Deripaska's Russian Aluminum (Rusal) and Victor Vekselberg's SUAL, combined with Glencore's alumina assets. The entity at merger was the world's largest aluminum company. RUSAL's Siberian smelters are powered by hydroelectric plants on the Angara and Yenisei rivers — among the cheapest and lowest-carbon electricity on earth, giving RUSAL a structural cost and carbon advantage over coal-powered smelters. RUSAL also negotiated a ~27.8% stake in Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) as part of complex Russian oligarch asset settlement in 2008 — creating a situation where a metal producer owns a massive stake in a completely different metals company. The April 2018 US OFAC sanctions on RUSAL (due to Deripaska ownership) caused immediate aluminum price spikes and threatened to shut Ireland's Aughinish Alumina, causing EU governments to lobby Washington for exemptions. Deripaska reduced his ownership below 50% in Jan 2019 for sanctions to be lifted.
United Company RUSAL Plc ↗