Aluminium production in the GCC will soon get a shot in the arm, thanks to the availability of bauxite from Saudi Arabia. At present, GCC producers source the ore from countries such as Australia.

Mr Hilal Al Hinai GM of commercial and corporate affairs at Sohar Aluminium said that “The GCC states currently produce 3.5 million tonnes of aluminum annually and it will soon produce an estimated 25% of the world production. The aluminum project by Maaden, a Saudi Arabian mining company, is aimed at exploiting the kingdom’s bauxite resources for domestic and world markets.”

Saudi Arabia’s aluminum project involves the development, design, construction and operation of two integrated sites Al Ba’itha in North Eastern Saudi Arabia and Ras Al Khair on the Arabian Gulf coast. The Al Baitha site, which consists of a bauxite mine and ore handling facilities in north eastern Saudi Arabia, expects production at a mining rate of 4 million tonnes per annum of bauxite for over 30 years.

The Ras Al Khair site is proposed to be used for the construction of the alumina refinery, aluminum smelter, rolling mill and related infrastructure for the Aluminium Complex. Bauxite ore transported by rail to Ras Al Khair will be refined to produce 1.8 million tonne per year of alumina which will in turn be processed to produce 740,000 million tones per year of aluminum.

The rolling mill with initial hot mill capacity of between 250,000 million tonne per year and 460,000 million tonnes per year will focus initially on the production of sheet, end and tab stock for the manufacture of cans and other products.

Mr Hinai said that the aluminum smelters of the Gulf, including Sohar Aluminium are making a major contribution to the GDP of their countries, creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs, providing skilled, well paid careers for individuals. Most of the aluminum produced in the Gulf goes to industrialized countries of the world where there is high demand and in Oman, around 60% of the aluminum produced goes to downstream industries.