One million tonnes of alumina produced at EGA’s Al Taweelah since April

Abu Dhabi: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) on Monday announced that Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi has produced one million tonnes of alumina since operations began in April.

Al Taweelah alumina refinery is now expected to reach sustained production at its nameplate capacity during the first half of 2020. The refinery is expected to produce some two million tonnes of alumina per year once full ramp-up is achieved, enough to meet 40 per cent of EGA’s alumina needs.

“We are pleased with the progress so far at Al Taweelah alumina refinery and we are on track to deliver a world-class ramp-up,” said Abdulla Kalban, managing director and chief executive officer of EGA

“Our preparations to operate Al Taweelah alumina refinery safely and efficiently began when the project was still on the drawing board. These plans are being effectively put into action by our operations team of global industry veterans,” he added.

EGA invested some $3.3 billion to build Al Taweelah alumina refinery, with its construction taking 72 million hours of work. The new plant contains some 9,500 instruments, 222 tanks and covers an area equivalent to 200 football fields,

The expansion of EGA since production began in Jebel Ali in 1979 has made the UAE the fifth largest aluminium-producing nation in the world. The aluminium sector, with EGA at its heart, is today one of the country’s most important industries supporting 60,000 jobs in the UAE.