Maaden production soon
SAUDI Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) will start initial production at its 740,000 tonnes per year (tpy) aluminium smelter in December.
Maaden and Alcoa teamed up in 2009 to build a $10.8 billion aluminum complex at Ras Al Khair on the Gulf coast, which is fast becoming a Saudi mining centre.
Production will be ramped up gradually to that level, Maaden said.
The partners are also developing a bauxite mine with capacity to produce 4 million tonnes of the raw material for the plant a year, and a metal rolling mill with a capacity of up to 460,000 tonnes.
Alba praised in report
ALUMINIUM Bahrain (Alba) said it has been selected amongst seven regional companies to be included in a landmark report on corporate good practices in accountability and transparency in the Gulf, and was also praised for its position on ethics, integrity and best business practices.
The report was published by the Pearl Initiative, a private sector-led not-for-profit organisation set up to improve transparency and accountability in the Arab world. It has been developed in partnership with the United Nations Office for Partnerships and is a centre of excellence at the American University of Sharjah, UAE.
Rubber symposium held
THE Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) and its joint venture partner ExxonMobil recently hosted a symposium promoting rubber industry downstream development at Sabic headquarters in Riyadh. The goal was to deliver all the applicable information needed to generate interest in developing this market.
Prince Turki bin Mohammed bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz, international relations manager of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, was among the dignitaries at the symposium.
Stripper used at GPIC
THE Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) in Bahrain examined the heat exchanger unit in its urea plant, using a high-pressure stripper, the first-of-its-kind in terms of manufacturing and materials technology used. Bahraini engineers along with American and Italian specialists played a significant role in the procedure.
