Emirates Aluminum (EMAL) said its board approved the expansion plan to increase annual capacity to 1.3 million metric tons (1.4 million tons) by the end of 2014.
The facility can now produce 750,000 metric tons (827,000 tons) of aluminum per year.
The EMAL smelter is located at Al-Taweelah, a coastal industrial complex between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The company is a joint venture between Dubai Aluminum and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company.
EMAL announced in a statement that Phase II of its operational plan would go ahead after the board approved the $4.5 billion investment, based on the success in reaching full production of the smelter’s Phase I.
On completion of Phase II, EMAL will become one of the largest single-site producers of primary aluminum in the world.
“In just three years, EMAL has become a global competitor in the aluminum industry,” EMAL President and CEO Saaed Fadhel Al-Mazrooei said in the statement.
He said Phase II will equip EMAL to grow the global customer base we have already established.
“It is also a clear demonstration of the confidence we have in the future market for aluminum and in EMAL to deliver to our customers,” he added.
The EMAL Phase II project will entail the construction of a new potline within the EMAL complex at Al-Taweelah.
The line will comprise 444 reduction cells powered by increasing the onsite power plant capacity to 3,000MW, according to the statement.
The new generation DX+ Reduction Technology (developed in-house by Dubai Aluminum Company) will be installed, which operates at 420 kA and offers substantial benefits in terms of energy-efficiency and environmental protection.
Simultaneously, the technology installed in EMAL Phase I will be upgraded — a project that will take the production yield from the existing 756 cells (in two potlines) by 50,000 metric tons a year to 800,000 metric tons by the end of 2012.
This will boost EMAL’s total production capacity to around 1.3 million metric tons by the end of 2014.
