Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (Dubal) is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary.

Thirty years ago, on November 12, Dubal tapped its first metal – a moment that marked the birth of its core smelter operations and the company’s official inception, said a statement.

Established to aid in the diversification of the UAE economy by adding value to the country’s oil-rich mineral resources, the entirely state-owned enterprise is widely regarded as the industrial flagship of the UAE and is one of the largest non-oil contributors to Dubai’s economy.

Abdulla J M Kalban, president and CEO, stated that the company’s roots date back to May 22, 1975, when the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (then Ruler of Dubai) signed a decree establishing Dubal on a 480-hectare site 35 kilometres south-west of Dubai.

Almost five months later, on October 15, 1975, Sheikh Rashid laid Dubal’s foundation stone; and construction of the smelter complex began in May 1976.

“Commercial production of aluminium at Dubal began in January 1980, the entire planned production volume of 135,000 metric tonnes per annum having been pre-sold in North America. The plant comprised 360 reduction cells in three potlines, a 504 MW power station and ancillary carbon, casthouse, port and other facilities,” said Kalban.

“Through a series of successive expansion projects in the intervening years, Dubal has evolved into the world’s largest modern aluminium smelter with a captive power station. Currently, our major facilities comprise a 960,000 metric tonne-per-annum primary aluminium smelter, a 2,350 megawatt power station (at 30°C), a large carbon plant, three casthouses, a 30-million-gallon-per-day water desalination plant, laboratories, port and storage facilities.”

There are now 1,565 fully operational cells in Dubal’s eight potlines. Exceptionally high purity of metal is maintained, with the standard purity cells delivering 99.913 per cent and the high purity cells achieving up to 99.96 per cent metal purity levels.

The company can produce more than one million metric tonnes of finished aluminium products a year, in three main forms: foundry alloy for automotive applications; extrusion billet for construction, industrial and transportation purposes; and high purity aluminium for the electronics and aerospace industries.

Dubal’s entire production is pre-sold to more than 300 customers in about 45 countries predominantly in the Far East, Europe, the Asean region, the Middle East and Mediterranean region, and North America. 

The company holds ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 20000, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification; and has twice won the Dubai Quality Award in the Production and Manufacturing sector (1996 and 2000).

“Ranked in 2008 as the largest single-site smelter in the western world (third overall) and seventh-largest producer of primary aluminium in the world as a whole, Dubal has set its sights on becoming the world’s fifth-largest producer of primary aluminium by 2015,” stated Kalban.

“With this in mind, we entered into a joint protocol in February 2006 with Mubadala Development Company, a wholly-owned investment vehicle of the government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The resulting joint venture aims to become one of the largest primary producers of aluminium in the world by leveraging the synergy of our aluminium expertise and Abu Dhabi’s energy and financial resources.”

Good progress has already been made:
- The first 700,000 metric tonne per annum phase in the two-phase green-field smelter development at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi, which will be the largest single site smelter in the world on completion, is on track for commissioning in April 2010.
- A partnership has been entered into with Algerian state-owned oil and gas company Sonatrach for a proposed green-field smelter development in the Beni-Saf industrial zone.
 A MoU has been signed with Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority and Emaar, The Economic City regarding the development of a green-field aluminium smelter complex, in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia.

Active investments are also being made to secure Dubal’s requirements of alumina and other critical raw materials. With regards to alumina feedstock in particular, the company has to date engaged in four strategic upstream bauxite/alumina projects in Brazil, Cameroon, Republic of Guinea and India.

“By diligently partnering with the Dubai government over the years, Dubal has also played a key role in the socio-economic development of the local community,” Kalban added.

In the summer of 1980 there were very few UAE nationals among Dubal’s workforce of 1,386 employees. Today, employment is provided to more than 4,100 people, of whom approximately 24 per cent are UAE Nationals – a level far in excess of the Dubai industry average of 4 per cent nationalisation. Approximately 70 per cent of positions at senior management level are held by UAE Nationals.-TradeArabia News Service