Russian court rules in favour of Rusal in $1.32B lawsuit against Rio Tinto

A Russian court has ruled in favour of Rusal in the aluminum giant’s 104.75-billion-rouble ($1.32 billion) lawsuit against global mining and metals company Rio Tinto, according to court documents.

The ruling intensifies a legal battle over a joint alumina refinery in Queensland, Australia, that Rio took sole control of after Australia imposed sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

The lawsuit was heard in closed session, and its details have not been disclosed. Rusal declined to comment. Rio Tinto was not immediately available.

Rusal filed the lawsuit after losing a case in Australia in 2024 to restore its rights to a 20% stake in the alumina plant Queensland Alumina Ltd (QAL).

Australia responded to the 2022 launch of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine with sweeping sanctions, including a ban on exports of the aluminum raw material to Russia.

Shortly after the ban was imposed in March 2022, Rio took sole control of QAL, sidelining Rusal and cutting its access to the refinery’s output. Rio owns 80% of the refinery.

Rio has no assets in Russia, but among the defendants in Rusal’s lawsuit were Rio subsidiaries that own 66% of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold deposit in Mongolia, a country Moscow calls “friendly” and which has not imposed sanctions on Russia.

Australia’s alumina export ban and the suspension of operations at a refinery in Ukraine prompted Rusal to seek additional supplies from China and other countries to feed its Siberian aluminum smelters in 2022.

In 2025, Rusal said it would gradually acquire up to a 50% stake in an alumina plant in India. It also announced plans to build a new 4.8-million-ton alumina plant in Russia’s Leningrad region in 2028.

In 2023, Rusal acquired a 30% stake in a Chinese alumina refinery to support feedstock from its assets in Russia, Ireland, Jamaica and Guinea.

($1 = 79.2000 roubles)

(By Anastasia Lyrchikova and Clara Denina; Editing by Mark Potter)