KIEV, July 29 – Rusal (Russia) intends to complete the construction of facilities to expand the production capacity of Mykolaiv alumina plant from 1.6 million tons to 1.7 million tons in 2018.

"We will complete building facilities to expand the production capacity to 1.7 million tons in 2018," the plant said in a press release.

The plant said that in 2014, it implemented the first phase of a project on the shipment of alumina in soft wagon inserts, which allowed the company to ship up to 50,000 tons of alumina per month. In 2015, the plant completed the implementation of the second phase of the project to increase alumina shipment in soft wagon inserts to 80,000 tons per month, which allowed for saving about $15 million a year. This year, the plant will modernize railway scales at the alumina loading site, which will increase wagon loading and reduce costs for goods transportation.