Russian Mining Company (RMC) wants to convert a closed aluminum plant into a Bitcoin mining plant.
Aluminum plant to Bitcoin mining facility
RMC’s Dmitry Marichinev wants to increase bitcoin mining in the country. He has proposed to use an aluminum plant that lost customers due to US sanctions placed in April last year. The plant titled Nadvoitsky Aluminum Plant (NAZ) is located in Karelia.
US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had imposed sanctions on Rusal, the parent company of NAZ. Rusal’s owner Olag Deripaska was named to be a Designated Russian Oligarch with ties to the Kremlin. Since then, Deripaska has given up his stake in Rusal, and the sanctions were lifted. However, production at NAZ has not resumed.
Now part of the old production site has been given to RMC on lease. However, RMC is not the only one operating in the plant as parts of it have been rented by various other entities for reasons unknown.
RMC representative confirmed that RMC has joined with UK-based exchange Cryptonex. Marinichev wants to grow the company to power 20 percent of the world’s mining activity.
Yuri Pripachkin believes that crypto mining is still feasible for all parties involved in the process. However, he admitted that all of it depends on the cost of electricity. He also said that a 20 percent volume controlled by one entity is unrealistic.
He stated that there are many entities pursuing their ambitions in the mining industry across the globe. He added that for Russia, “it is realistic to focus on 5-7 percent of the total volume.”
