Malaysian infrastructure and energy group MMC Corp (MMC) said its wholly owned subsidiary MMC International Holdings Ltd and its partner Saudi Binladin Group have agreed to co-build with Aluminium Corp of China an aluminium smelter costing $3 billion in Saudi Arabia.

The smelter and associated anode plants will be worth $3 billion. The facilities are coming up in Jizan Economic City (JEC) in Saudi Arabia.
The smelter will be equipped with three potlines and is expected to have an annual production capacity of about one million tonnes upon completion of the project’s three phases, the construction company said in a filing to the stock exchange.
Each phase of the construction will include one potline producing 335,000 tonnes annually and an anode plant, it said.
The construction of the aluminium smelter is targeted to begin by the second-half of next year.
MMC said it plans to build a power plant with an estimated capacity of 4,860 megawatts that will cater to the needs of the industrial users. MMC and Saudi Binladin Group are the joint master developers of JEC. Aluminum Corp of China is the sole producer of alumina in China, the second largest producer of alumina in the world and among the top five largest producers of aluminium in the world.
Jizan Economic City will include ports, aluminium smelters, steel and copper processing plants, oil refineries, fisheries and agro-based industries.