United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced the start-up of the first section of an expansion to the company’s Al Taweelah smelter.
The 26 new reduction cells at potline 1 at Al Taweelah will now ramp-up to produce some 30,000 tonnes of aluminium per year.
In total EGA is building 66 new reduction cells to extend all three potlines at Al Taweelah. The project will increase production capacity at Al Taweelah by some 78,000 tonnes of hot metal per year. The start-up of the extension to potline 2 and then potline 3 will take place later this year.
Overall project completion stands at 70 per cent, on schedule despite the challenges of COVID-19.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “This project to expand our production at Al Taweelah is part of our ongoing debottlenecking of production and investment in high return growth opportunities. The world requires aluminium to build back better after COVID-19, and this expansion will enable us to supply even more of the metal we all need.”
Some 950 people are currently working on the Al Taweelah smelter expansion project, with over 2.1 million hours of work completed so far with a world-class safety performance. There have been zero injuries leading to time off work.
Like all EGA’s aluminium production lines, the extensions use EGA’s proprietary aluminium smelting technology developed in the UAE. The new reduction cells in potline 1 and 2 are EGA’s DX technology, whilst the new reduction cells in potline 3 are EGA’s DX+ Ultra technology. Both technologies are amongst the most energy efficient in the world.
EGA has developed its own technology in the UAE for more than 25 years. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally, exporting its DX+ Ultra technology to Aluminium Bahrain.
EGA has early stage agreements with companies in both Indonesia and Colombia that could lead to exports of EGA technology to build aluminium smelters.
The start-up of the 26 new reduction cells takes EGA’s total number of reduction cells in both Jebel Ali to Al Taweelah to 2,803. EGA makes one-in-every 25 tonnes of aluminium produced worldwide, and is the largest ‘premium aluminium’ producer.
Last year EGA sold some 2.52 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA’s metal is the biggest UAE export after oil and gas. Sales to local customers support a domestic aluminium sector that produces everything from car parts to electricity transmission cables. The aluminium sector as a whole is one of the UAE’s largest industries, accounting for 1.4 per cent of the economy and supporting 60,000 UAE jobs.
Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae
056 3111 536
About EGA
Emirates Global Aluminium is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai.
It is the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry, and 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 2020, EGA sold 2.52 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 recent years over 80 per cent of EGA’s production has been value added products, one of the highest proportions of any aluminium company in the world. In 2020, value added products made up 72 per cent of total sales despite EGA’s flexing of its product mix in response to fluctuating market demand caused by COVID-19’s impact on world manufacturing.
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. 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 5,450 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 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.
© Press Release 2021
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