Bahrain-based Garmco, a global aluminium rolling mill, has awarded a contract worth $47 million to Fives, a French industrial engineering group, to build a new state-of-the-art cast house at Garmco’s Bahrain facilities.

The re-melt project is an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) turn-key project, which will enable Garmco to develop its metal recycling capability and lower the cost of metal casting. The project will run for a duration of approximately 21 months, starting in September.

The first stage has already commenced and is being managed internally by Garmco with the support of a local supplier. This stage consists of the construction of a scrap storage area and segregation unit. The new project, once complete, will enable Garmco to produce 120,000 tonnes of aluminium slabs.   

Bernard Regnauld-Fabre, Ambassador of France to Bahrain, and Valerie Montane, commercial counsellor, attended the signing ceremony as the guest of honours. Garmco also invited the project’s financier – Ahli United Bank to join the ceremony.

Mahmood Al Soufi, chairman of Garmco, said: “We are delighted to launch this important expansion project in collaboration with Fives. This facility will have a number of advantages for Garmco.”

“Importantly, it will create 50 new jobs, further bolstering Garmco’s position as one of the most sizable employers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and will generate significant cost savings. This project, alongside one or two others, forms an integrated part of a three year strategy and will contribute to the profitability and growth of the Company regionally and internationally.”

Jean-Baptiste Lucas, CEO of Garmco, said: “We are excited to move ahead with the re-melt expansion project and our continued collaboration with world-class partners as we further build Garmco’s capacity and reach across global markets.”

“We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ahli United Bank for financing this investment project as we move the company even further down the path of efficiency – both in terms of the value and savings that can be extracted.” – TradeArabia News Service