Aughinish hoping to avoid being unintended victim of sanctions on Russia
The Aughinish Alumina refinery on the Shannon Estuary is owned by Rusal, a Russian mining-to-manufacturing global conglomerate.
As the West prepares to roll out its next wave of sanctions on Russia, Rusal Aughinish and the 500 people working at its huge alumina smelter in the Shannon Estuary will be hoping that lightning doesn’t strike twice.
The facility which includes a port is based on the Co Limerick shore and its smelter has for almost three decades glowed in the night sky across the waters of the estuary.
It is owned by Rusal, a Russian mining-to-manufacturing global conglomerate producing the compound almumina, as well as aluminium, and other related products.
Its shares which trade on the Moscow stock exchange plummeted by a third on Thursday, a troubling sign of the storm that may be coming the way of the Aughinish plant.
Aughinish is a manufacturing company based on Irish soil which potentially has the most to lose out should the West escalate its sanctions in an uncontrolled way in the coming weeks and months.
Aughinish has faced the fallout of sanctions on its Russian owners over in the past. It was only finally freed three years ago of the uncertainty when the US lifted sanctions on Rusal and other companies linked to controlling stakeholder Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire accused of having close ties with the Kremlin.
The US had imposed crippling sanctions on Mr Deripaska's business interests.
This time the aim of Western sanctions is to hurt the Russian economy. However, Aughinish is probably one of the examples where the consequences of ill-considered sanctions could do more harm than good to Western interests.
It is the same dilemma the West faces in dealing with well-known Gazprom and Rosneft — Russia’s huge gas and oil concerns which help supply around a third of the natural gas needs of Germany.
The Aughinish smelter is part of the huge network of mining and manufacturing plants that span the world from Siberia in Russia, to the West Indies, and Africa.
It mines bauxite ore from the Urals in Russia, as well as from Jamaica, Guinea, and Guyana. It then produces the basic compound called alumina which is used in a huge range of products — and Ireland’s Aughinish is Rusal’s single largest smelter.
Rusal also owns outright alumina producers in the Ukraine, Jamaica, four facilities in Russia, and a smelter in Guinea, as well as a joint venture in Australia.
Its network of manufacturing plants producing aluminium is also huge. It operates six aluminium smelters in Siberia and two others in the rest of Russia. It also has an aluminium plant in Sweden.
And Rusal also operates foil factories and packaging plants in Russia and Armenia.
As an aluminium producer used in beverage cans, its products are used by households worldwide.
In recent months, it announced a pilot with global makers of beverage cans to make "the lowest ever carbon can" in Europe for the owner of Budweiser beer for sale in Britain.
Aughinish will be hoping that as part of a Russian-owned network of global plants it does not again become a victim of sanctions.
Sanctions to be decided on this evening by the EU will be "even more extensive", Simon Coveney said.
A package of sanctions discussed yesterday came into effect today.
That package comprises "targeted restrictive measures" on a number of Russian individuals and entities as well as restrictions on economic relations with the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, and financial restrictions against Russia.
Mr Coveney said that Ireland would stand with Ukraine and the EU.
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