United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium and PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (INALUM) today announced the completion of the start-up of five pilot reduction cells at INALUM’s Kuala Tanjung aluminium smelter upgraded with EGA’s technological know-how.

The pilot reduction cells are the first step in a larger planned project to upgrade a further 298 pots in Potlines 1 and 3 of the smelter, targeting to increase the amperage from 195ka to 215ka and boost production capacity by approximately 10 per cent.

EGA has completed a series of similar upgrades across its Jebel Ali site in Dubai and Al Taweelah site in Abu Dhabi in recent decades.

EGA technologists and engineers have dedicated more than 10,000 hours of work on the Kuala Tanjung upgrade project so far in design and implementation, including 4,300 hours spent at the smelter. As many as 20 different EGA staff were deployed at various times during the project, more than third of them are UAE Nationals and a quarter of them are women.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “The successful completion of the start-up of these pilot pots is an important milestone both in our project to deploy EGA’s technological know-how in Indonesia, and our potentially wider partnership with INALUM. EGA’s technology team has a decades-long track record of success, creating value for EGA not just in the UAE but internationally.”

Danny Praditya, President Director of INALUM said: “EGA as a global aluminium company with expertise in aluminium smelting technology, and is the chosen partner for INALUM in developing increased aluminium production capacity in Kuala Tanjung. INALUM appreciated this collaboration on the pilot project, which has had excellent results. We are now evaluating these results for the next phase of the wider project. This is aligned with the Memorandum of Understanding that has been agreed to enhance the partnership between Indonesia and UAE.”

The upgrades to the pilot reduction cells at Kuala Tanjung include significant improvements to superstructure and potshells, as well as incorporating EGA’s proprietary Pot Control System which is state-of-the-art software that maximises metal production while reducing energy consumption and environmental emissions.

EGA has signed a separate agreement with INALUM giving the UAE company the exclusive right to provide its proprietary DX+ Ultra aluminium smelting technology for an expansion of the Kuala Tanjung smelter, should prove feasible.

EGA also has the right to take a minority equity stake in the project and to offtake much of the produced metal. EGA’s requirement for an investment or metal offtake is that the project uses renewable power. The existing aluminium Kuala Tanjung smelter uses electricity generated with hydropower.

EGA has developed its own aluminium smelting technology for more than 30 years. DX+ Ultra, EGA’s latest industrialised technology, is amongst the most efficient in the global aluminium industry.

EGA was the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally, in a deal with Aluminium Bahrain in 2016.

All EGA’s aluminium smelter expansions since the 1990s have used the company’s own UAE-developed technology. EGA has retrofitted all its older production lines.

Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae

About EGA

Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible. Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry. EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates. Press Release EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea. EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2022, EGA sold 2.72 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world. EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2022, value-added products accounted for 78 per cent of EGA’s cast metal sales. EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries. Around 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports almost 48,000 jobs. EGA itself employs around 6,800 of these people including more than 1,200 UAE Nationals. EGA has focused on technology development for over 30 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally. As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA’s Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. EGA’s bauxite mining subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation, achieved the first ASI certification in Guinea in 2023. Al Taweelah alumina refinery was certified later in 2023, with the result that EGA now has all of its global operations certified to the aluminium industry’s internationally recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance. In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun. EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium. EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall. EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres. EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants. EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and supplies over 45 per cent of EGA’s needs. Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae.