Emaar and Emal to partner on smelter complex

Emaar the Economic City (Emaar.E.C), the company developing King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Emal International to build a huge greenfield aluminum smelter complex within the KAEC region.

Emal is the joint venture between Mubadala Development Company and Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal).

The project, which was endorsed by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia), the prime facilitator for KAEC, will have an initial direct investment of US$5bn with a first phase design production capacity of 700,000 tonnes of aluminium per year.

Construction of the smelter will start before the end of this year. 

The governor of Sagia, Amr Bin Abdullah Al-Dabbagh, commented during the signing ceremony: "The aluminum smelter complex will be another magnet for industries exploring the investment options provided by KAEC".

Fahd Al-Rasheed, chief executive officer of Emaar.E.C, explained: "The aluminium industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors with huge potential for job creation directly and through ancillary industries. By setting up the smelter complex, we are also reiterating on our commitment to the Kingdom to create more job opportunities for the Saudi population".

The complex will reportedly create 2,500 direct jobs along with another 5,000 indirect jobs.

Global demand for aluminium is rapidly increasing, and the Gulf region accounts for around 5% of the world aluminium production of approximately 34mn tonnes.
By 2020, it is expected this will rise to around 60mn tonnes.