The year 2007 marks the final wind-up of yet another, so far indispensable part of our production capabilities. Up to the very end, potline B set an example of how a production facility should be managed. It provided excellent production results, but unfortunately, it also included all the attributes of a technology that can no longer be feasible in the aluminium industry world of tomorrow.

We lost 35,000 tons of primary aluminium per year, but we gained operative conditions for other parts of the company, because, at the end of the year, we acquired an environmental protection license for all the remaining parts of our production The area of remelting waste aluminium is of special importance. The growth in this area in 2007 only confirmed our decisions to compensate the loss of primary potline aluminium with this source. Of course, conditions to continue production in potline C will have to be provided for - sufficient amounts of electricity at reasonable prices for aluminium production - in order to be able to further develop production on the basis of waste aluminium purchased.

Introducing casts to the market is even more burdensome and slower than expected and planned. The automobile industry is a very demanding customer, pushing the supplier to the very edge of what is acceptable with its demands and price expectations.

By winding up potline B production, we were able to significantly decrease our energy dependency. In 2008 our electricity consumption is set to decrease by approximately 550 GWh. We can only hope that this contribution to improving the situation on the Slovenian electricity market will bear the appropriate result in negotiations for the supply of electricity after 2008.


This - the provision of electricity after 2008 - is what further development of TALUM depends on.

Unfortunately, it is not in our hands!