EMAL appoints leadership team

Mr. Hedditch, who was previously the advisor on aluminium projects at Mubadala Development Company, is joined by Bruce McDougall as Chief Financial Officer and Salman D. S. Abdulla as Chief Operations Officer, to head the EMAL management team.

Hedditch and his team have been instrumental in progressing the formation and development of EMAL and together bring with them a wealth of experience in the aluminium and mining business.

"It is a privilege to be appointed CEO of Emirates Aluminium, one of the largest projects in the aluminium industry today, "said Hedditch. "I look forward to working with my team to build not only a solid company, but one which will truly become one of the flagships of the United Arab Emirates."

Hedditch has a distinguished track record in the industry. Before joining Mubadala, Hedditch held the position of Managing Director Rusal, Australia. Prior to relocating back to Australia in 2004, he served as Managing Director at Rusal Krasnoyarsk Aluminium Smelter in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia for two years.

The progress of EMAL has been swift. Since the signing of the Joint Protocol in February 2006 a detailed feasibility study, the front end engineering and design studies were completed and groundbreaking happened in May 2007. The EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management) contract has been awarded, and Engineering and Procurement are well under way, while financial close is expected at the end of the year.

Bruce McDougall will head up EMAL's financial team and brings with him years of experience in the mining and metal industry. Before joining EMAL, McDougall worked for Wesfarmers and Rio Tinto. At Rio Tinto McDougall covered a series of financial and commercial functions. McDougall's team is in the final stages of completing the project finance.

"The project financing effort has been quite extensive, reflecting the scope and size of the EMAL project. As such, we expect this work will set several new benchmarks for projects of this type." said McDougall.

Salman D.S. Abdulla is EMAL's Chief Operations Officer and comes from Dubai Aluminium, the Joint Venture Partner in EMAL, where his last role was the leadership of the professional team responsible for the operation of the complex of power and desalination plants at that site. Abdulla, a UAE national, is a professional technocrat with eight years experience in project management and operations.

"EMAL is of global importance. As a state-of-the-art facility, it represents not only new volumes of sought-after product, but efficient use of clean energy, and best-practice environmental performance. It truly is an investment for the future." concluded Abdulla.