Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) updated investors on its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals last week, declaring that it is well on track now that the Spent Pot Lining (SPL) Treatment Plant is fully online.
Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said in a press release that operations at the SPL Treatment Plant are well underway at present.
“We are getting closer to realise the full potential of our ESG goals, especially when it comes to Waste Management, with the Spent Pot Lining (SPL) Treatment Plant in full operational swing to produce HiCal.”
The plant has a nameplate capacity of between 30 thousand and 35 thousand metric tons of spent pot lining and covers an area of about 6.4 acres. Developed with the assistance of Australian firm Regain, Alba intends to process all of its spent pot lining at the plant for use in cement or other applications instead of shipping the potentially hazardous materials to landfills.
“This Project represents a tangible and a real progress, not only in addressing our commitment as well as stakeholders’ interests to reduce and recycle waste but also in transforming SPL into a value-added product and creating sustainable value in a circular economy,” he continued.
“Our ESG roadmap, to be published in February 2022, will further address Alba’s needs and must-do-initiatives in its pursuit to embrace our nation’s Environmental & Carbon reduction’s objectives under the leadership of HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister to reach net zero by 2060.”
Alba is one of the largest industrial companies in the Middle East and is the world’s biggest aluminium smelter outside the People’s Republic of China. Originally incorporated in 1968, the company is based in Bahrain and 84% of its total workforce are Bahraini nationals. It began operations in 1971 with a 120,000 metric ton annual capacity. Modernization bumped the output up to 450,000 metric tons in 1992. In the spring of 2005, Alba opened Line 5, raising output by 860,000 metric tons per year. In 2021 Alba’s smelter produced 1,561,222 metric tons of primary aluminium.