Tajik Aluminium Company

The Tajik Aluminium Company (Tajik: Ширкати Алюминийи Тоҷик; Russian: Таджикская алюминиевая компания), abbreviated as TALCO (Tajik/Russian: ТАЛКО) headquartered in Tursunzoda, Tajikistan, runs the largest aluminum manufacturing plant in Central Asia, and possibly the world, and is Tajikistan's chief industrial asset.

The country has no native aluminum ore, so the raw material for the plant has to be imported. Construction of the plant proper began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on 31 March 1975.

Tajik news agency [http://www.avesta.tj/ AVESTA] [http://www.avesta.tj/articles/4/79982.html reported] that it produced a total of 416 thousand tonnes of aluminum in 2006.

It consumes 40% of the country's electrical power, and a 2002 study found it responsible for notable fluorine water pollution in the region. It also has been blamed repeatedly by the neighboring regions of Uzbekistan for their serious ecological problems.

On the 3rd of April, 2007 TadAZ has been officially renamed to TALCO - Tajik Aluminum Company.

RUSAL, Russian metallurgical giant, is said to be investing in order of 150 million US dollars into modernizing TadAZ and increasing its production capacity.