Monday, September 20, 2010

Alfa Group sets up JV in Cuba to process nickel tailings

Alfa Group sets up JV in Cuba to process nickel tailings
12:05 20/09/2010

Palmira Resources Limited, a subsidiary of Russia's Alfa Group
financial-industrial conglomerate and Cuba's Commercial Caribbean Nickel
S.A., have set up a joint venture to process nickel tailings on the
island, Alfa Group's Alexei Mikhailovsky said on Monday.

A pilot unit to test the technology of metals extraction from tailings
will be launched in 2011 near the city of Nicaro, where 100 million tons
of tailings were located, Mikhailovsky said.

"There is not only nickel there, there is also cobalt, iron and chrome.
Our task is to extract as much metal from the tailings as possible and
as efficiently as possible," he said, adding that the pilot unit would
show which metals could be most efficiently extracted.

"We think not only about the maximum extraction of metals, but also
about economic efficiency. Thus we will design large facilities on the
basis of the pilot unit. It should be a large-scale production,"
Mikhailovsky said.

Ivan Martinez Leyet, Cuba's Deputy Minister for Basic Industry, said
that the industrial processing of tailings would help solve ecological
problems in the region.

"Gradually, as research goes on and after we get first positive results,
700-800 jobs will be created at the processing plant," Martinez said.

Russia and Cuba plan to set up a joint venture to upgrade a thermal
power plant on the island and other projects, Russia's ambassador to
Cuba Mikhail Kamynin said.

HAVANA, September 20 (RIA Novosti)

http://en.rian.ru/business/20100920/160649609.html

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