United Arab Emirates: A delegation from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, led by Director General, Salem Al Marri, visited Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside of oil and gas, to explore potential collaboration in research and the use of EGA’s UAE-made aluminium in space.

The Director General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Salem Al Marri, was received at EGA’s Jebel Ali site in Dubai by Chief Executive Officer Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, and the company’s leading technologists. During the visit, the delegation toured EGA’s state-of-the-art research and development facilities, Casthouse and laboratories.

The two parties discussed potential future synergies including the use of EGA metal by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in the construction of its next spacecraft, the sharing of laboratory capabilities, high-end machinery and fabrication facilities, and material sourcing.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “We look forward to close cooperation with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre as the UAE’s aluminium industry contributes to our nation’s space ambitions. Aluminium is lightweight, strong, and infinitely recyclable, and has been a key material in the aerospace sector since the dawn of flight. I look forward to EGA’s UAE-made low carbon metal leaving our planet as part of UAE-made spacecraft.”

Salem Al Marri, Director General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, said: “I am thankful for the opportunity to visit one of the UAE’s most innovative industrial companies. Through EGA, the UAE is a major global producer of aluminium, a metal essential for the exploration of space. We look forward to potential future opportunities of collaboration with EGA, and to preparing new generations of Emirati engineers, experts, and researchers on the future strategic, sustainable, and scientific achievements of the UAE’s space sector.”

Since the launch of the first satellite in 1957, aluminium has been the leading material in spaceflight. Given the attributes of aluminium alloys to function under extreme stress, pressure and low temperatures, aluminium’s role as the metal of choice for spacecraft and their components remains second to none.

EGA and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre have conducted respective visits to one another’s facilities and have worked closely together in hosting a series of webinar talks focusing on the role of innovation in space exploration and the aluminium industry.

For the decades ahead, EGA’s aim is to be a technology pathfinder for the global aluminium industry including in the adoption of Industry 4.0, expand the company’s position as technology supplier of choice, and establish a thriving manufacturing innovation ecosystem in the UAE.

EGA works on innovative projects with customers and academics to develop new alloys and enable better understanding of the mechanical properties of existing alloys.

EGA is one of the UAE’s most innovative companies and has developed its own aluminium smelting technology in the UAE for more than 25 years. EGA’s latest technology, DX+ Ultra, is amongst the most efficient in the global aluminium industry. The company has used its own technology in all its smelter expansions since the 1990s has retrofitted all its older production lines and was the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally.

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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.

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 2021, EGA sold 2.54 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 2021, value-added products accounted for 84 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 60,950 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 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. ASI certification is 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 40 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.