Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL), one of Australia's largest alumina refineries, fears sanctions. Rio tinto, which mainly owns the alumina refinery, has warned of turmoil in its aluminium business, while Rusal, the Russian aluminium giant, holds a 20 per cent stake in QAL.
Queensland Alumina LTD., cu sediul în Gladstone, Australia, operează o rafinărie care a fost vizată de sancțiunile SUA încă din 2018. Cu toate acestea, QAL nu a comentat dacă sancțiunile au un impact asupra companiei.
Still, on February 23, 2022, QAL's 80 per cent shareholder Rio Tinto had told investors it was anxious about the spike in tensions that was turning into a very serious situation.
Jakob Stausholm, Rio chief executive, said: "Particularly in our business, I think it is mainly the aluminium sector that could be disrupted."
"If we're going to see sanctions, you know, we had sanctions in 2018, AND I would say, in that respect, we did very well the last time we had sanctions. The advantage of Rio Tinto having such a large aluminium industry is that we have an integrated supply chain from bauxite to alumina to final aluminium products, which puts us in a very good position to meet our customers' needs during disruptions."
Previous sanctions against Rusal were lifted in January 2019 after Oleg Deripaska, the company's billionaire founder, backed him as group chairman.
So far, Australia's sanctions have focused on Russian banks and eight members of its National security Council. The sanctions include travel bans and financial restrictions.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also warned that "the sanctions announced on Wednesday are only the first part, and more will follow if Russia does not de-escalate." The United States and the European Union are expected to take further steps."
The prime minister added: "If the violence in Russia escalates, we will take further action, we have a lot of tanks left."
