Alba’s Sixth Potline to be inaugurated by Bahrain King on Sunday, November 24

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) chairman Shaikh Daij bin Salman Al Khalifa announced during the opening of Arabal 2019 that its Line 6 Expansion Project would be inaugurated on Sunday, November 24, by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Chairman said Bahrain would become the home of the world’s largest aluminium smelter outside China with the inauguration of Alba’s Line 6 Expansion, which is one of the biggest brownfield developments in the Middle East region with a capex of approximately $3 billion.

He also said the sixth pot line would boost Alba’s per-annum aluminium production by 540,000 tonnes, taking the total production capacity to 1.5 million tonnes in a year.

The project was commissioned on December 13 last year, ahead of schedule. Progress has been fast-paced since then and all 424 pots in the line are set to go on stream soon, said Salman Al Khalifa further, while adding that the project has not only created around 500 direct jobs in Alba but is also set to boost the downstream cluster by creating indirectly a few thousand job opportunities. Besides, it presents many co-investment opportunities through local and foreign investment.

Arabal organising committee chairman Mohammed Al Naki said: “The aluminium smelting industry, which was adopted by the GCC countries as a strategic decision besides petroleum and petrochemical industries, has become a key player into achieving sustainable economic development in the region.”