EGA marks a major milestone: Its Al Taweelah alumina refinery achieves nameplate capacity in a year

Emirates Global Aluminium, on July 8, has announced the achievement of nameplate capacity at its new Al Taweelah alumina refinery for June, a major milestone achieved just 14 months after the production began at the refinery in April 2019.

This marks a world-class performance because usually the four-step alumina processing at new refineries takes several years or more to achieve a month of sustained production at design capacity at each step of the process.

EGA has reported no injuries during the production at refinery.

Zaher Alhabtari, Executive Vice President Upstream and Capital Projects at EGA, said today: “We began preparing for operations back in October 2013, when Al Taweelah alumina refinery was still on the drawing board. Our careful planning has enabled us to deliver a world-class ramp-up of this important project and I congratulate every member of the team for their contribution to this benchmark achievement. We are now focused on the next milestone, which is three consecutive months of production at nameplate capacity.”

The nameplate capacity of the plant is around 2 million tonnes of alumina per year, which is adequate to meet 40 per cent of EGA’s alumina needs and replace some imports.

The development of Al Taweelah refinery, which involved a total investment of $3.3 billion to build, was part of EGA’s strategic plan to expand into the upstream aluminium sector and make EGA an integrated global aluminium giant.

Some 589 people are employed at EGA’s Al Taweelah refinery, including alumina refining experts from various countries like Jamaica and Australia.

The development of Al Taweelah refinery has created opportunities for other industries as well in the supply chain, such as shipping and trade.