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Qatalum aims listing on LME by next year

DOHA: Qatalum , the largest aluminium plant ever launched, is looking set to meet the registration requirements of the London Metal Exchange (LME) next year, Qatalum CEO, Jan Arve Haugan told reporters here yesterday.

He said the ISO 9001:2008 Certification that Qatalum was awarded yesterday is one of the requirements for qualification to join LME. "We are certified to be on LME and are looking at 2011 to be qualified," he said.

"There are certain requirements we have to meet such as producing a certain volume to a certain standard and also to have certain production duration. We need one year to be able to produce somewhat stable production."

The LME is the world's premier non-ferrous metals market. It offers futures and options contracts for aluminium, copper, tin, nickel, zinc, lead, aluminium alloy etc.

The $5.8bn Qatalum , a 50/50 joint venture between Qatar Petroleum (QP) and the Norwegian Company Hydro being developed in line with Qatar's long-term economic diversification strategy was awarded yesterday the ISO 9001:2008 Certification.

The certificate was handed over to Qatalum CEO Jan Arve Haugan by accredited ISO auditors Det Norske Veritas (DNV) Business Assurance Middle East at a ceremony here yesterday.

ISO 9001:2008 Certification is expected to bring Qatalum to a new horizon in terms of its market as well as meeting the registration requirements of the LME and forming part of the three-phase QPS roadmap to certification.

DNV's contract with Qatalum also covers TS16949 (Automotive Standard) quality certification and training. Additionally, Qatalum intend to pursue integrated management system that includes ISO14001 (Environment) and OHSAS 18001 (Safety) certification.

Haugan said at the award ceremony, "Receiving ISO 9001: 2008 Certification is a significant milestone for Qatalum , confirming our drive to continuously improve the Qatalum Production System (QPS), our own quality management system."

"It is also a particularly impressive accomplishment given the fact that the auditing and certification process took place in the middle of ramp-up, which could have made the process impossible."

He said the focus is on ramping up the plant in a safe and secure manner with the next step being to fine tune the company's operations in order to improve productivity.

"This includes also adjusting our money to a benchmark figure which is a typical challenge in year one and year two after start up, because during start up you grow some sort of additional cost levels and you need to fine tune them in order to compete both with yourself as well as with the best," siad Haugan.

Qatalum 's nameplate production capacity is 585,000 tons of high quality primary aluminum products per annum and the company is poised to increase that average and after it has stabilized its operations it will be able to increase production to some 600,000 tons down the road.

The company's complex facilities in Mesaieed Industrial City include a carbon plant, port and storage facilities, as well as a captive power plant. The state-of-the art casthouse produces value added products such as extrusion ingots and foundry alloys used in a variety of industries including automotive, construction, engineering and the manufacturing of consumer goods by the end of their journey.

Haugan added that now that Qatalum has achieved this certification, it will strive to maintain the highest standards and demonstrate commitment to the QPS principles.

The current global aluminium production capacity stands at approximately 40 million tons per annum, while there are 4.6 million tons or more than 11 percent of the world capacity on inventories.

By Nasser Al Harthy

© The Peninsula 2010