Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal) took strong steps in recent months towards consolidating its position as a major force in the world aluminium industry with an expansion programme and upstream integration initiatives that will give it access to raw material.

The giant smelter also reported a 10 per cent increase in net profits for 2005 following a 14 per cent surge in sales.
Work is in progress on a 100,000-tonne capacity upgrade as part of a 10-year Future Strategic Programme.
The expansion will see the aluminium giant’s capacity of hot metal production rise to 861,000 tonnes per year (tpy) during the last quarter of 2006. The project constitutes Phase 2 of a wider expansion programme, the total cost of both phases being $392 million. The first phase raised capacity to 761,000 tpy.
The year also marked Dubal’s significant global upstream integration plans including a $3.6-billion project in association with India’s largest private sector conglomerate the L&T Group for a world-class alumina refinery, bauxite mining and development of related infrastructure.
The integration initiatives also encompassed a strategic investment worth  $200 million for a 25 per cent stake in Global Alumina and a long-term off-take agreement for 40 per cent of the annual production of alumina from Global Alumina’s wholly owned Guinea subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation SA.
Another initiative was a 10-year $32-million agreement with the international shipping company Gearbulk for chartering a specially built vessel.
Giving production highlights of 2005, Dubal CEO Abdullah J M Kalban said hot metal production touched the highest-ever level of 722,000 tonnes, up 6 per cent over 2004 when it was 681,000 tonnes. Sales shot up by 14 per cent to 850,000 tonnes against 743,000 tonnes in the previous year while power generation climbed 9 per cent to 1,350 MW against 1,234 MW in 2004,
“For 2006, the prospects are even better. We hope to increase sales by 6 per cent to 900,000 tonnes, hot metal production by 8 per cent to 778,000 tonnes and power generation by 9 per cent year-on-year to 1,767 MW,” said Kalban.
As much as 45 per cent of the supplies were sourced locally for the expansion plans and other activities. Overall Dubal’s contribution to Dubai’s GDP has been averaging more than 7 per cent annually over the last several years.
Phase 1 of Potline-7, implemented at a cost of $180-million, was officially launched in November when it was fully commissioned with all the 120 pots going on stream well ahead of schedule.
The expansion was completed in a record time of 14 months and resulted in savings of more than $25 million from the budgeted cost. The project was originally budgeted to cost  $205 million. However, with the expertise of in-house core management professionals, Dubal was able to complete it at a cost of $180 million.
Dubal has developed and tested its own advanced reduction technology to achieve efficient smelting performance, said Kalban, reiterating the key role of in-house technology. The company also commissioned the $27-million Casthouse-3 machinery in collaboration with the Italian major Properzi during the year,” said Kalban.
Casthouse-3 has a production capacity of 80,000 tonnes a year of hot metal in different alloys.