UAE’s EGA and Saudi’s Ma’aden extend technology cooperation

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) have signed an agreement to extend their exploration of potential collaboration on technology in the aluminium value chain.

EGA has developed its own aluminium smelting technology for more than 25 years, and has used its UAE-developed technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines.

Ma’aden operates the largest and most efficient vertically integrated aluminium complex in the world in Ras Al Khair on Saudi Arabia’s east coast. Ma’aden’s mine-to-market aluminium business comprises the Al Ba’itha mine and fully integrated refinery, smelter, rolling and export facilities in Ras Al Khair. It also provides billets, ingots, slabs and flat-rolled aluminium products to customers across the globe, including multinational automakers and consumer brands.

The agreement between the companies extends a memorandum of understanding originally signed in 2018. The companies will explore cooperation on aluminium smelting technology development, including new technologies with lower greenhouse gas emissions. EGA and Ma’aden will also consider cooperation on the management of by-products from processes in the aluminium value chain, and aluminium recycling.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, EGA’s CEO, said: “We are pleased to extend our agreement with Ma’aden on potential cooperation in technology and other development to support further the sustainability of our two companies. The successful tackling of big challenges can only be accelerated by companies working together.”

Riyadh Al Nassar, SVP of Ma’aden’s Aluminium business, said: “Aluminium is one of the world’s most crucial metals for many global industries going into a future that is focused on environment and sustainability. This partnership aims to increase the cooperation between Ma’aden and EGA to work together, including towards more sustainable aluminium production.”

In other news, in February, EGA reported a net profit of Dhs5.5bn ($1.5bn) for 2021, posting a 1,140 per cent increase compared to Dhs445m ($121m) in 2020.

Read: Emirates Global Aluminium reports $1.5bn in net profit for 2021