Construction of Al Taweelah alumina refinery in high gear
Emirates Global Aluminium, equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai, recently received its first shipment of bauxite ore in preparation for the commissioning of its under-construction Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi’s KIZAD Complex.
The 61,450-tonne shipment of bauxite from Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée sailed to the UAE from the Guinea in West Africa in 33 days. Once Al Taweelah alumina refinery is at full production, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée will supply some 5 million tonnes of bauxite each year to EGA.
“Alumina refining will be a new industrial activity for the UAE, so this shipment of bauxite is the first ever to our country. Thousands of people are currently working hard to bring the construction of Al Taweelah alumina refinery to completion, and we look forward to producing our first alumina during the first half of next year,” stated Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EGA.
Earlier this month, EGA completed construction of a huge shed to stockpile bauxite ready for use. The shed has the capacity to store 450,000 tonnes of bauxite, the same weight as the Burj Khalifa. During operations, stockpiling is required to ensure that production can continue even if there are interruptions in shipments of bauxite.
Bauxite ore is moved from the ship to the shed on a conveyor belt. Al Taweelah alumina refinery will have more than eight kilometres of conveyor belts in total. More than 13,000 people are currently building Al Taweelah alumina refinery, which is one of the largest industrial construction sites in the UAE.
Al Taweelah alumina refinery has a total budgeted project cost of approximately $3.3billion. Once full ramp-up is completed, Al Taweelah alumina refinery is expected to produce some two million tonnes of alumina annually, enough to meet 40% of EGA’s needs. The UAE currently imports all its alumina.
