Gold Silver Reports (GSR) – Russia Sanctions Throw Global Aluminum Industry Into Chaos — As producers like Rio hunt for new buyers for their bauxite and sources of alumina to feed smelters, the global chokepoint created by the sanctions means that many of the miners, refiners and smelters that should be benefiting from surging prices are actually facing challenges just to keep their operations running. For aluminum smelters, suspending operations is a worst-case scenario and restarting is very expensive.