Maaden-Alcoa aluminum refinery operates at 60% capacity: Report

Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Maaden) said that the aluminum refinery, which is part of a joint venture with US-based Alcoa, is operating at 60 percent capacity, Reuters has reported citing Thomas Walpole, Maaden’s senior vice president of aluminum.

The facility, still in its testing phase, is expected to reach its full production capacity of 1.8 million tons by the end of this year.

In addition, the project’s smelter, which has an initial capacity of 740,000 tons per annum (tpa), is expected to achieve a higher production of 760,000 tpa this year. Around 70-80 percent of the smelter’s production is also being exported, Walpole added.

Alcoa owns 25 percent of the venture, with Maaden holding the balance. The $10.8 billion project in Ras al-Khair on the Gulf coast includes a bauxite mine, a refinery, a smelter and a rolling mill.

Alumina Refinery