Emirates Aluminium (Emal) CEO, Duncan Hedditch, has confirmed that the UAE’s industrial flagship, the world’s largest single site aluminium smelter complex, is on schedule to produce hot metal by 2010.

As part of the Petrochemicals and Heavy Industries panel at the Meed Abu Dhabi Conference, Hedditch presented a paper titled: “From a vision of the future to an emerging reality” incorporating the latest developments on the Emal site, production updates and a review of milestones achieved.

Hedditch referred to the ambitious targets Emal has sucessfully met so far in the building of this smelter.

“From the first ground-breaking in May 2007 and the first concrete piling in January 2008, we have made outstanding progress and the latest achievement is the erection of the first Potroom Steel, which took place in October 2008. Phase one is on schedule to produce hot metal in 2010, and we are currently undertaking the pre feasibility survey for phase two,” he said.

Over eight million man-hours have already been worked on this ground-breaking project, with over 7,000 people on site representing 12 contractors, plus Emal staff. Upon completion, phase one of the smelter will bring 2,000 permanent jobs to Abu Dhabi, increasing to 3,000 in phase two.

The finished smelter will be the largest in the world, producing 1.4 million tonnes of aluminium – an amount equivalent to 12,000 Airbus A380s – once phase two is active.

The Emal smelter complex adds tangible value to the industrialization of the Abu Dhabi economy and its diversification beyond oil and gas, encouraging downstream opportunities and potential employment in the region, the statement said. – TradeArabia News Service