According to a report, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) commenced operations at Casthouse 4 on December 26, 2018, the biggest furnace in the kingdom-based aluminium smelter’s history.

Alba’s board of directors Shaikh Daij bin Salman bin Daij Al Khalifa and deputy chief executive officer Ali Al Baqali attended the opening of the first cold-charge of Furnace 3 at Casthouse 4. Representatives from the Alba executive management team, the Casthouse 4 start-up team, Bechtel, and other major contractors were also in attendance.

On this occasion, Shaikh Daij said: “We are pleased with this milestone, which is another turning point in Alba’s journey towards becoming the largest smelter in the world. With this landmark, we are on track to cast final products from CH 4 -- another success in the Safe Start-Up of Line 6. I thank all teams for their commitment to achieve this milestone safely and on time.”

Part of Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project, Casthouse 4 is designed with a total production capacity of 530,000 tonnes a year. Alba said the first cold-charge of Furnace 3 is a “significant part of the process of commissioning Casthouse 4, which is set to produce soon”.

Al Khalifa said the move was “another turning point in Alba’s journey towards becoming the largest smelter in the world”.

“With this landmark, we are on track to cast final products from [Casthouse 4], another success in the safe startup of Line 6,” he added, thanking the teams involved also “for their commitment to achieve this milestone safely and on time”.