Emal's $5.7bn aluminium smelter project on schedule

Potline number one of Emirate's Aluminium (Emal) is 50 per cent complete in terms of construction, according to a senior official.

Meanwhile, three gas turbines out of six are now in operation to produce the power required for the smelter.

"We are looking at the operations of power stations of around 200 MW power by December this year," said its Project Director Yousuf Bastaki.

Emal is currently undertaking feasibility studies on the second phase of its plant and expects to take a decision this year.

The $5.7 billion (Dh20.9bn) project, located at Al Taweelha in Abu Dhabi, is a joint venture between Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (Dubal) and Mubadala Development Company – Abu Dhabi's investment vehicle.

In an interview with its project director, Reuters said yesterday Emal is currently producing 300 tonnes a day, and expects to hit its production target of 700,000 tonnes per year for phase one by December.

Emal is expected to be the world's largest single-site aluminium smelter complex with this project. The first phase of the project will have a capacity of 2,000 MW of electricity.

The second phase of the plant, which will increase capacity to 1.4 million tonnes of aluminium annually is expected to be completed by 2013-2014, the company's Chief Executive Officer Saeed Al Mazroui said in January.

"They are currently conducting the feasibility study," said Emal's Vice-Chairman Abdulla Kalban.

Emal signed a contract this month to ship aluminium to South Korea's Daewoo International Corporation.