Ural Alumina Refinery (UAZ)

The refinery was established in 1939 to process bauxite mined in the Urals. The facility was revamped and expanded between 2015 and 2017. As a result, its output grew by 15% to 885.5 kt compared to 770 kt in 2014..

In 2012–2013, the aluminium production at UAZ was mothballed as part of the Metals Segment's initiative to close inefficient facilities.

UAZ uses the paralleled version of the Bayer and sintering processes. The Bayer part solely uses bauxite feedstock from the Sredne-Timanskoye bauxite deposit.

UAZ is certified according to the standards of the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI). It is currently participating in a pilot project to mitigate the risks of impact on its biodiversity and ecosystem services.

In 2024, the Ural Alumina Refinery achieved certification under ISO 14001:2015 on Environmental Management Systems.

Current Projects

In 2024, the refinery started the third phase of a four-stage project to use closed-loop water circulation. It is designed to reduce the amount of technical water used in the main workshops of the Alumina Production Directorate by 93%. The project also aims to prevent wastewater from entering natural water bodies and conserve water resources, including the Volkovskoye water reservoir on the Iset River.

In 2025, UAZ plans to complete a project to replace the electrostatic filter in the dust and gas treatment units of its sintering kilns. The dust removal rate from the fumes of all three furnaces are projected to be 98.7%. This means that nearly all dust containing aluminium oxide will be reintroduced to the production process without being released into the atmosphere.

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