DUSHANBE, April 21, 2016 Asia-Plus — Glencore International AG (Glencore), which is today one of the world’s largest global diversified natural resource companies, plans to supply 200,000 tons of alumina to Tajikistan for the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) this year, according to the TALCO press service.
On April 19, visiting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Glencore International AG, Mr. Ivan Glasenberg, reportedly met here with senior representatives of TALCO.
The two sides reportedly discussed prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between the two companies.
Glencore is one of the largest trading partners for Tajik primary aluminum. Glencore International AG has cooperated with TALCO in providing Tajik aluminum smelter with alumina and producing primary aluminum since 2007.
Under two agreements between Glencore and TALCO that are valid until the end of this year, TALCO annually supplies 163,000 tons of primary aluminum to Glencore.
Glencore, for its part, plans to finance the delivery of 200,000 tons of alumina to TALCO this year.
The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO), which is Tajikistan’s largest state-owned enterprise, is one of the ten largest aluminum smelters in the world and provides up to 70% of the country’s foreign currency earnings, consuming 40% of the country’s electrical power. TALCO is wholly owned by the Tajik government. Tajikistan does not mine alumina but imports the raw material through tolling arrangements.
Construction of the Tajik aluminum plant (TadAZ) began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on March 31, 1975. On April 3, 2007, TadAZ was officially renamed to TALCO – Tajik Aluminum Company. The Tajik aluminum smelter had the capacity to produce 517,000 metric tons per year.
Founded in 1974 as Marc Rich + Co AG, the company initially focused on the physical marketing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and minerals and crude oil. Shortly afterwards, it expanded into oil products. In 1981, the company acquired an established Dutch grain trading company, which was the basis for our agricultural products business; later that year we added coal to our energy products segment.
From 1987, it began to diversify from purely marketing and trading, through key acquisitions in mining, smelting, refining and processing. The company made its first equity investment in an industrial asset when it acquired 27% of the Mt. Holly aluminum smelter in the US. This was followed by its first controlling interest in an industrial asset in 1988: a 66.7% interest in a zinc/lead mine in Peru.
In 1990, the company acquired a stake in Xstrata (then Sudelektra AG). It was renamed Glencore International in 1994 following a management buyout.
Glencore International AG listed on the London Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange 2011, becoming Glencore International plc. Glencore was admitted to trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in November 2013.
Glencore and Xstrata merged to become Glencore Xstrata plc in 2013. The company was renamed Glencore plc (an acronym for Global Energy Commodity Resources) at the AGM in May 2014.
