Sohar Aluminium records a new level of hot metal production at 390,516 tonnes in 2019

Sohar Aluminium achieved a record hot metal production of 390,516 tonnes in 2019, underscoring its ambition to become the benchmark smelter in the Middle East. This production milestone came on the 10^th anniversary of Sohar operations, jointly owned by the Omani government (40 per cent) represented by OQ – Oman’s integrated energy group; Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (40 per cent), and leading global mining group Rio Tinto (20 per cent).

Sohar Aluminium started its production in 2010 with an annual capacity of 390,000 tonnes of high quality aluminium. Hot metal output was up by about 2.8 per cent from the previous year’s high of 379,775 tonnes. In 2017, production slumped to 252,714 tonnes when smelting operations were impacted by a technical glitch.

Eng Said bin Mohammed al Masoudi, CEO at Sohar Aluminium (SA), said the production record was one of several milestones achieved by the company. “In 2019 following the improvements in place from 2018, SA hit the record of 390,449 tonnes of finished goods production with an energy consumption intensity of 13.99 MWh per tonne of aluminium. Moreover, the PFC (perfluorocarbon) emissions intensity decreased drastically by 72.7 per cent compared to 2018 due to significant Anode Effect rate improvement showing a renovated efficiency and productivity following the shut-down in 2017 and as a result of the maintenance and improvements carried in 2018 and 2019.’’

Sohar Aluminium also stated in its newly published Sustainability Report 2019 that purity levels of the finished products were the highest in the company’s history, with lowest level of iron per tonne.

Sohar Aluminium operates a single 1.2km long potline at its complex adjoining Sohar Industrial City and supports a thriving aluminium processing cluster. Around 158,000 tonnes of hot metal from the smelter, which represented 40 per cent of total production, were supplied to three local offtakers Oman Aluminium Processing Industries (OAPIL), Oman Aluminium Rolling Company (OARC) and Oman Aluminium Cast (OAC).

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