Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the largest industrial company in UAE outside oil and gas, has signed an agreement to supply alumina to The Alumina Industrial Company.
Under the agreement, The Alumina Industrial Company, established by the Maithan Group and Bathwal Corporation, plans to establish UAE’s first plant to develop specialty products from alumina in Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi. The products will be used in refractories and abrasives for industrial applications.
The plant is expected to produce 80 thousand tons per year of specialized alumina products, with the potential to expand to 150,000 tons annually. The project will create 200 jobs in construction and 150 permanent roles once in operation. The first production is expected in 2025.
As the only alumina producer of UAE, EGA is the perfect source to supply materials for this project. The supply agreement makes first for EGA to sell alumina from its refinery to a third party, contributing to UAE’s industrial growth strategy Operation 300bn. All the production from EGA’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery is currently used in EGA’s smelters.
EGA’s supply of alumina to the project is a further expansion of EGA’s local commercial sales that enable downstream industrial activity. EGA sells some 10 percent of its metal in the UAE, to 26 companies that make everything from car parts to window frames for local use and global export.
Operation 300bn aims to develop the UAE’s industrial sector and enhance its role in stimulating the national economy. It aims to more than double the industrial sector’s contribution to the GDP to $82 billion by 2031.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban CEO – EGA
“Driving sustainable economic growth is one way we fulfill EGA’s purpose, Together, innovating aluminum to make modern life possible. This commercial agreement to supply alumina to a new industry under development in the UAE further expands our contribution to industrialization and prosperity in our nation, in line with the goals of Operation 300bn.”
Nikunj Bathwal, Director of The Alumina Industrial Company, said that, “Enabled by EGA’s alumina supply and leveraging the world-class infrastructure of UAE, we are creating a unique alumina derivatives platform that will support existing industries in the UAE, and potentially lead to the development of further new industrial operations in the country.”
The plant’s production is expected to replace some imports required in supply chains of UAE industries ranging from steel, aluminum, petrochemicals, glass to cement. Refractories are ceramic materials that are resistant to very high temperatures, and are used to line hot surfaces in many industrial processes.
The new plant’s alumina products will replace some imports required in supply chains of UAE industries such as, steel, aluminum, petrochemicals, glass to cement. Refractories are high temperature-resisting ceramic materials, and are used to line hot surfaces in many industrial processes.
EGA itself requires refractories in some of its industrial processes. The Alumina Industrial Company’s project could potentially supply a significant proportion of this need, further increasing EGA’s local procurement.
EGA already supplies some alumina hydrate, a precursor product of alumina, to domestic and international producers of aluminum fluoride, which is used in aluminum smelting, welding applications and ceramic glazes and enamels.
