Novelis Starts Production At New Sierre Casthouse

Project on-track for start of Novelis FusionTM casting in August

SIERRE, Switzerland, April 11, 2008 — Novelis has completed a significant milestone in the commissioning of its new aluminum casthouse in Sierre with the production of the first sheet ingot at the greenfield facility.

This achievement means that the approximately CHF50 million project is on-track for its final stage in August when the company will start producing multi-alloy sheet ingots in the plant using its breakthrough Novelis Fusion™ solidification technology. The new casthouse will be the first Novelis site in Europe, and one of three globally, with the capability to cast aluminium sheet ingots with multiple alloy layers. These multi-alloy ingots are rolled into sheet products with previously unattainable product features. The other two Novelis Fusion facilities are in Oswego, NY (USA) and Ulsan (South Korea).

“The new casthouse is state-of-the-art technology for our industry,” said Roland Harings, general manager for Novelis in Sierre. “As planned, we have started off by testing our new equipment on traditional single-alloy sheet ingots and we are delighted that the first production has gone so well. We are looking forward to the next and final stage, which will be the start of Novelis Fusion casting in August. I would like to congratulate the whole team working on this project for the way in which they have managed this process to the planned timescale and in co-operation with our local stakeholders.”

Originally planned as a 70,000 tonnes per year facility, the capacity has been increased through additional furnace investments in response to a high degree of market interest in the benefits offered by Novelis Fusion. This Novelis innovation opens up new market segments for aluminium sheet and further expands the company’s proprietary offering. For more information on Novelis Fusion technology, please visit www.novelis.com/fusion.

The construction of the new casthouse and adjoining technology centre has made rapid progress since the initial ground-breaking in March 2007. Construction of the buildings was completed in November and the equipment was commissioned in March of this year.

About Novelis
Novelis Inc. is the global leader in aluminium rolled products and aluminium can recycling. The company operates in 11 countries, employs approximately 12,900 people and reports annual revenues of more than $11 billion. Novelis supplies premium aluminium sheet and foil products to automotive, transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and printing markets throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Novelis is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Limited, Asia’s largest integrated producer of aluminium and a leading copper producer. Hindalco is the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India. For more information on Novelis, visit www.novelis.com.

About Novelis Sierre

At its Sierre plant in the Valais area of the Swiss Alps, Novelis rolls aluminum sheet for the automotive, building, industrial and transport markets. The site has hot and cold rolling and heat treatment capability and is also home to Novelis’ first Novelis Fusion™ casthouse in Europe. The plant is an industry leader in meeting the demanding quality and formability requirements of the automotive market.

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Media Contact:

John Gardner

+41 44 386 2155

john.gardner@novelis.com

Released April 11, 2008