Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) announced that it has achieved a major milestone in its Al Taweelah alumina refinery project. According to local media, the US$3 billion project has reached the point of sixty percent completion of its calciners.
The plant, which is one of UAE’s biggest industrial construction sites, is employing 5,900 people during its construction phase. At its peak the manpower employed for construction exceeded 10,000.
A brief ceremony was held to mark the occasion, attended by EGA’s executive vice-president (upstream) Yousuf Bastaki as well as Finnish ambassador Riitta Swan and Markku Teräsvasara, the chief executive of Outotec, a Finnish minerals and metals technology firm.
“We are creating an aluminium value chain for the UAE, and our partners such as Guinea, that stretches around the world,” explained Abdulla Kalban, EGA managing director and chief executive. “Al Taweelah alumina refinery is an important link in that chain. It creates jobs, economic opportunity and scope for further industrial development both at home and abroad. I am pleased that the project, and Outotec’s part in it, is proceeding so well.”
“The Al Taweelah alumina refinery is a major investment by Ega in the future of the UAE’s aluminium industry,” opined Bastaki. “Producing alumina in Abu Dhabi, and mining bauxite in Guinea, will enable us to manage the cost of this important resource. That means the potential of the aluminium industry to contribute to the growth of our economy will be secured.”
“We are proud that Outotec was offered the opportunity to participate in this important project and are working hard to live up to the trust that the UAE has placed in us,” Teräsvasara said.
According to a statement from EGA, construction on the two million metric ton per annum refinery is progressing at a satisfactory pace, with over one third of the project completed. The firm said that the plant should be ready to begin production in early 2018. Upon completion, the refinery will fill up to three quarters of the nearby Al Taweelah smelter’s alumina requirements.