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senaat and Ducab in joint Abu Dhabi aluminium rod venture
Kizad Master Plan
Senaat, an Abu Dhabi state-owned industrial
holding company, and power cable maker Ducab
are linking up to open a Dh220 million
(USD60m) aluminium rod mill in Abu Dhabi,
providing a boost to the emirate’s strategy to
develop a downstream industrial heartland.
Based in the Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad),
the plant will produce aluminium alloy rods
and wires for use in cable-making and other
manufacturing as well as bare overhead conductors,
mainly for use in the utility industry.
“This new joint venture with Ducab is a
testament to our ability to successfully create,
optimise and champion industrial assets in
Abu Dhabi and the UAE, creating value and
further expanding the country’s industrial capabilities,”
said Suhail bin Athaeeth, the chief
executive of Senaat. It jointly owns Dubaibased
Ducab with Investment Corporation of
Dubai, a sovereign wealth fund owned by the
Dubai Government.
Known as Ducab Aluminium, the venture
will start plant construction in the first quarter
of next year, ready for opening in early 2016.
The facility aims to reach a capacity of 50,000
tonnes a year. The mill will be the latest project
within Kizad’s Hot Metal Road, a special
route for transporting liquid molten aluminium
straight away from the Emirates Aluminium
(Emal) smelter to processing industries
spanning extrusion to casting. The process cuts
the cost involved in re-melting the metal.
Officials see the linking up of metal producers
with manufacturers further down the
industrial value chain as vital to broadening
the depth of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil economy
and adding value to its exports. The mill will
not be the first aluminium rod manufacturer
in the region. Producers in Bahrain and Oman
both already make such products.
Ducab Aluminium will draw upon Ducab’s
sales network, at first targeting markets in the
GCC and Mena regions. European and Indian
subcontinent markets will be tapped later.
Overhead conductors will be sold to Ducab’s
existing customers of underground cables.
Rods will be used as material in Ducab’s Jebel
Ali facility in Dubai for making cables. Headquartered
in Jebel Ali, the company has been
making cables since 1979. It already has a
presence in Abu Dhabi through the operation
of a copper rod mill in Mussafah.
The venture is also the latest example of
Dubai and Abu Dhabi companies working together.
In June, a merger was announced between
Emal and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal),
to create a new larger aluminium producer,
Emirates Global Aluminium.
Sennat, along with Gulf Extrusions Co.
(LLC), is also parent company of Talex, the
Taweelah Aluminium Extrusion Company,
which is the first aluminium downstream
project to be established in Kizad. Talex is being
built on a 200,000 m 2 site adjacent to Emal,
and will be the first project on the Hot Metal
Road to receive liquid metal from the aluminium
smelter. The manufacturing capacity will
be 50,000 tonnes a year.
© Kizad
Novelis completes usD400m expansion of aluminium rolling mills in korea
Novelis has completed its USD400 million
investment programme in South Korea. The
expansion of its Yeongju and Ulsan plants
increases the company’s production capacity
in the region by more than 50% to around
1 million tpy of aluminium sheet. The expansion
is a key element in Novelis’s global growth
strategy. Phil Martens, president and chief executive
of Novelis, pointed out: “Asia is the
largest and fastest growing region in the world
for aluminium, and this expansion allows us
to maintain our leadership in this dynamic region
across key markets such as beverage cans,
consumer electronics and automobiles.”
Novelis began the expansion of its aluminium
rolling and recycling facilities in 2011 to
meet the rising demand for flat rolled aluminium
in high value-added products in the Asian
market. The expansion includes a hot and
cold rolling mill, pusher furnace, high-speed
slitter and annealing furnaces, in addition to
the previously commissioned fully-integrated
recycling centre at Yeongju. Shashi Maudgal,
senior vice-president and president, Novelis
Asia, commented: “We can now supply coils
to our new automotive sheet finishing plant in
Changzhou, China, which is expected to commence
production in mid-2014. Furthermore,
we can now pursue new business opportunities
in high value-added markets like consumer
electronics where a high-quality surface finish
is required.”
The demand for aluminium in the Asian
automotive market is expected to exceed the
25% compound annual growth rate projected
globally over the next five years, as more car
manufacturers move to build lighter, more
fuel-efficient vehicles. The company’s expansion
in South Korea will help it meet this rapidly
growing market.
Novelis opened a new aluminium recycling
and casting centre at its Yeongju facility in October
2012. This operation is the largest aluminium
beverage can recycling centre in Asia,
with the capacity to produce 265,000 tonnes
of sheet ingot. The Yeongju Centre is one of
a series of recycling and casting expansion
projects launched by Novelis over the past
two years to increase its recycling and casting
capacity to 2.1 million tpy globally by 2015.
Novelis has a regional headquarters office
in Seoul, operates four plants in South Korea,
Malaysia and Vietnam and will commission its
new Chinese facility in 2014. Currently, the
group employs around 1,800 people in the region,
including 200 new staff added as part of
this expansion.
ALUMINIUM · 11/2013