EGA’s $3bn UAE alumina refinery reaches milestone
Al Taweelah alumina refinery is currently one of the largest industrial construction sites in the Emirates
Emirates Global Aluminium’s $3 billion Al Taweelah alumina refinery has reached a significant construction milestone, it has been announced.
The Calciners section of the project is 60% complete, and the overall completion of the project is currently at 37%.
The plant will refine bauxite ore into alumina, which is the feedstock for aluminium smelters. The refinery is only the second to be built anywhere in the Middle East, and its construction sees the UAE expanding upstream into the aluminium value chain.
The Al Taweelah alumina refinery is currently one of the largest industrial construction sites in the UAE, with 5,900 people working on the project at the moment. Peak construction is expected to see more than 10,000 manpower on site.
At present, the UAE is reliant on third party imports for all of its alumina needs, which amounts to close to five million tonnes per year. EGA is the largest industrial company in the UAE, outside of the oil industry.
Located in the Khalifa Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), the project will be built next to EGA’s Al Taweelah smelter, which is one of the largest single-site aluminium smelters in the world.
The construction of the alumina refinery is also the biggest project in the UAE’s aluminium industry, since the construction of the Al Taweelah smelter itself.
Construction on the project is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2018, and the refinery will be capable of producing two million tonnes per year of alumina. This represents three-quarters of the alumina demand of the Al Taweelah smelter.
Overall, the aluminium industry accounts for 30,000 jobs in the UAE alone. The refinery itself will create more than 600 permanent jobs, including nearly 100 supervisory, engineering, technical and professional roles which have been ear-marked for UAE nationals.
As part of the preparations for the start-up of the refinery, in January, 15 Emirati engineers and technicians are expected begin development secondments at Ma’aden, in Saudi Arabia – the only operational alumina refinery in the region.
It is expected that some five million tonnes of bauxite ore will be imported each year from the Republic of Guinea to feed the Al Taweelah alumina refinery. EGA is investing $1.00 billion to develop a bauxite mine in Guinea. This is the largest greenfield investment in that country in four decades and is expected to add 10% to Guinea’s GDP.
The mine will have a capacity of 12 million tonnes of bauxite ore per year. Commercial production is scheduled to begin in 2018. EGA will sell bauxite ore from Guinea to other countries, with bulk samples already being shipped to India and China to develop those markets.
“We are creating an aluminium value chain for the UAE, and our partners such as Guinea, that stretches around the world. 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,” said Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s managing director and chief executive officer, in a statement.
EGA’s executive vice-president – Upstream, Yousuf Bastaki added that the Al Taweelah alumina refinery is a major investment by EGA in the future of the UAE’s aluminium industry.
“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,” he explained.
Calcination is the final stage of the process of refining bauxite ore into alumina for use in an aluminium smelter.
EGA is also set to begin work in an inland area of KIZAD on a storage site for bauxite residue, which is a by-product of refining bauxite into alumina.
