GREEN ALUMINIUM

WHY VENEZUELA?

Venezuela has excellent conditions to be an important and efficient integrated producer of Green Aluminium, since it has among other factors: 


  • Vast bauxite reserves
  • Hydroelectric power already available
  • Great potential for solar and wind power generation to complement its hydroelectric potential
  • Excellent geographical location

As well as highly educated personnel with extensive knowledge of the aluminium industry, and next we will make a brief summary on this matter.

BAUXITE

The country has several bauxite deposits, and studies carried out for its quantification indicate inferred amounts of the order of more than 2,500 MMt.

 

The information also indicates volumes of the order of 1,780 MMt in the Cedeño Municipality, and 475 MMt in the Padre Chien Municipality; both from the Bolívar State (Guayana Region) where the Venezuelan aluminium, bauxite, alumina and aluminium industries currently operate.

HYDROELECTRIC POTENTIAL

The production of primary aluminium depends mainly on having a reliable, uninterrupted and competitively priced supply of electricity; and due to global policies to combat climate change, this electricity must additionally be generated from Renewable Sources.


Achieving all these conditions is not an easy task, since currently the electricity generated by wind and solar sources is not the most advisable for the production of aluminium since large reductions in the cost of storage are still needed to be considered as reliable sources for large volumes of aluminium production.

That is why Hydroelectricity remains the ideal option, in economic and environmental terms, for uninterrupted power supply as required by the primary aluminium industry.


In this sense, Venezuela in Bolívar State has an important hydroelectric potential, part of this already exploited and available in built dams, and a significant portion still usable for the construction of new electricity generation infrastructures.

Guri

Having this electrical energy via renewable sources enables Bolivar State to produce “Green Aluminium”; therefore avoiding future ecological taxes, because aluminium production in Venezuela is not dependent on electricity linked to fossil fuels.

NATURAL GAS

In addition to the Hydroelectric Potential necessary for the establishment of smelters for the production of

 “Green Aluminium”, Venezuela has sufficient reserves of natural gas for the production of alumina using its bauxite deposits; as well as providing heat for the metallurgical processes associated with the manufacture of anodes, processing of liquid aluminium, and transformation and manufacture of aluminium into by-products, parts, pieces, and end-use goods. Venezuela’s proven natural gas reserves are of the order of 5,740 trillion cubic meters, ranking it as the eighth largest in the world.