EGA sends female engineers to Ma’aden’s alumina refinery in Saudi Arabia

Emirates Global Aluminium has sent 13 female UAE National engineers to Ma’aden’s alumina refinery in Saudi Arabia as part of preparation work for the start-up of its Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi. The new group are the first women to participate in the programme.

Eleven of the women are graduate trainees who will fill mechanical and process engineering roles in the new alumina refinery. They were joined by a safety superintendent and a lean engineer who have transferred to the alumina refinery from EGA’s smelters.

Zaher Abdulla Al Habtari, Senior Vice President Refinery Operations at EGA, said: “Almost 500 people are working on preparations to run Al Taweelah alumina refinery, including many experienced engineers we have recruited from alumina refineries around the world. As our alumina refinery will be the first in the UAE, our training collaboration programme with Ma’aden is an important part of developing UAE Nationals to take roles in our operations organisation.”

Al Taweelah alumina refinery, one of the largest industrial construction sites in the United Arab Emirates, will have a capacity of two million tpy of alumina and is expected to meet 40 per cent of EGA’s alumina requirements.

The company has already signed an agreement with Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée for the supply of bauxite from the Republic of Guinea. EGA is also building a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in Guinea.