Emirates Aluminium has finished work on the world's longest potline, a row of electrolytic cells for reducing certain metals, as the company is on course to complete its latest expansion by the end of next year.
The construction of the 1.7 kilometre potline is part of Emal's Phase 2 expansion, which will add 500,000 tonnes per year to boost total capacity to 1.3 million tonnes. Emal this month merged with Dubai Aluminium to create Emirates Global Aluminium, a company owned in equal parts by Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Once Emal's expansion is completed, Emirates Global Aluminium will be the world's fifth largest producer with annual capacity of 2.4 million tonnes.
The market value of the combined entity stands at US$15 billion, according to Mubadala and the Investment Corporation Dubai, which own Emirates Global Aluminium. Construction on the $4.5bn Emal expansion began in 2011. Emal is the first anchor tenant of the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) in Taweelah and has the key function of attracting downstream industry to its cluster. The 120 steel structures used for the new potline were supplied by Abu Dhabi's Emirates Steel.
The steelmaker will in time also become an anchor tenant at Kizad, where its next expansion will be built once the company has been allocated a supply of natural gas by the Government.
