Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced that 25 per cent of the reduction cells at the company’s Al Taweelah smelter have now been restarted.
EGA’s Al Taweelah sustained significant damage on 28 March when an Iranian attack on Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi led to an emergency shutdown of all EGA’s facilities on the site.
To restore hot metal production, EGA must progressively repair and restart each reduction cell. Some 315 out of the 1,262 reduction cells have now been restarted.
EGA is working on all three potlines at Al Taweelah in parallel to accelerate the rate of reduction cell start-ups. Potline 1 was energised on 26 May, potline 3 on 13 July and potline 2 on 3 August.
After restart, a reduction cell typically takes a week to stabilise and reach full production. Some hot metal is used to restart subsequent reduction cells, with the balance delivered to EGA’s Al Taweelah Casthouse to be cast into finished ‘premium aluminium’ products.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “The restoration of production at Al Taweelah is the biggest challenge we have ever faced at EGA. This work is led by a dedicated team of experts, and we are applying decades of experience as well as innovative new methods to make safe progress as fast as possible. Our continued strong progress gives us confidence that we will reach full production in Q1 2027.
Around 1,000 people are currently working on the restoration of hot metal production at Al Taweelah smelter.
Al Taweelah alumina refinery continues to produce at around 50 per cent capacity. The pace of further ramp-up of alumina production will be determined by supply chain considerations and the optimisation of EGA’s alumina sourcing strategy. The continued recovery of aluminium production at Al Taweelah smelter is not dependent on the refinery returning to full capacity.
Production ramp-up at EGA’s new Al Taweelah recycling plant continues on track, with full production expected by late Q4 2026.