Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has announced the start of production at the expansion of the EGA Spectro Alloys aluminium recycling plant in Minnesota, US. EGA had last year acquired 80% of EGA Spectro Alloys.
The expansion adds 55,000 tonnes of secondary billet production capacity in the first phase. The ramp-up to full production is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2026.
The expansion takes EGA Spectro Alloys’ total production capacity to 165 thousand tonnes per year of recycled aluminium ingots and billets.
Metal from the expansion project will be sold under EGA’s recycled aluminium product brand RevivAL.
According to EGA, the completion of the expansion project at US facility brings its global aluminium recycling capacity to 195,000 tonnes per year, with plants in the US and Germany.
EGA is currently building the UAE’s largest aluminium recycling plant in Al Taweelah, which will have a capacity of 170,000 tonnes per year of aluminium billets.
The UAE recycling plant is expected to begin production in the first half of 2026.
CEO Abdulnasser bin Kalban said: "Reaching first hot metal at the expansion of EGA Spectro Alloys is another milestone in our drive to build a global aluminium recycling business to meet growing demand for this low carbon metal."
"It is also a milestone in EGA’s growth in the United States, already one of our most important markets and where we are progressing our plans to build a primary aluminium production plant in Oklahoma," he stated.
Demand for recycled aluminium in the US is expected to reach some 7.6 million tonnes per year by 2033, according to CRU, an independent business intelligence organisation.
The United States is currently the world’s second biggest recycled aluminium market.
Recycling aluminium requires 95% less electricity than making new metal, and generates a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions.
In Oklahoma, EGA plans to develop the first new primary aluminium production plant in the United States of America since 1980.
According to EGA, the plant is expected to have a production capacity of 600,000 tonnes of primary aluminium per year, nearly doubling the US’ current production.
Some 85% of the aluminium needs of American industries, from automotive to aviation and construction, are currently met by imports, it added.-TradeArabia News Service