Dubal celebrates 10 million tonnes' production

HE Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, Vice-Chairman of Dubal said: 'This outstanding achievement is in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, the UAE Minister for Finance and Industry, and Chairman of Dubal, to make our company one of the foremost players in the global aluminium industry. It is also a credit to his guidance and leadership.'

Abdulla Kalban, CEO of Dubal, says that topping the 10 million tonne production milestone means that the company has effectively doubled its finished product yield since 2001. 'Last year, we produced approximately 923,000 tonnes of cast aluminium in total, representing a 7.8% increase on the prior year alone,' says Kalban. 'This continuous growth trend is the results of ongoing collaboration between the casthouse and the potlines that produce the molten aluminium, complemented by our dedicated, multi-national workforce across all of Dubal's function-delineated departments.'

Dubal's finished product output in 2006, at 922,982 metric tonnes, represented cumulative growth of 2,398% since 1980, when the fledgling company's total casthouse production amounted to just 36,950 tonnes. Currently, the company is in a strong position to achieve its full casting capacity of 1,130,000 tonnes by the end of 2007, entrenching its position as the largest casthouse in the world in terms of capacity.

A series of consecutive, multi-billion dollar expansion projects over the years has seen the smelter complex grow from an initial three potlines with an annual molten metal capacity of 135,000 metric tonnes in 1979 to a current eight potlines capable of producing 890,000 metric tonnes of primary aluminium a year. 'The latest expansion project, which is due for completion by the first quarter of 2008, will raise our hot metal production capacity to 945,000 tonnes per annum, while the casthouse will have an annual production capacity of 1.13 million tonnes'. Dubal's power generation capacity will simultaneously be increased to 2,045 megawatts,' adds Mr Kalban.

Three main product types are produced by Dubal: foundry alloy for automotive applications; extrusion billet for construction purposes and high purity aluminium for the electronics and aerospace industries. In total, the company manufactures over 110 individual product lines, of which more than 70 are made to customer specifications. Dubal is widely acclaimed as the world's top producer of both automotive foundry (alloy A356.2) and high-purity ingot; and is among the world's leaders in the production of extrusion billet.

'Dubal has further growth ambitions,' continues Mr Kalban. 'Our vision is to become one of the world's top largest aluminium smelters by 2015. We have already laid the foundations for achieving this target by investing in our people and investing laterally in the development of green-field smelters; as well as in the upstream aluminium industry, so as to secure our future alumina requirements.'