SAUDI ARABIAN MINING Company (Maaden) has signed a US$10.8 billion contract with Alcoa, a world leader in aluminium, for the development of a fully integrated world-class aluminium industry in the kingdom.
SAUDI STEEL FIRMS have accumulated around one million tonnes of steel products in their stocks due to an export ban and poor demand. The industry has urged the government to reconsider the decision to ban exports and has valued the surplus steel at US$533mn. Contractors have warned that removing the ban will result in spiralling costs.
EMIRATES ALUMINIUM (EMAL), a joint venture between Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Development Company and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal), has so far committed US$3.6 billion in investment by awarding 326 contracts for its smelter.
EMIRATES STEEL INDUSTRIES (ESI) has commenced the commissioning of its new steelmaking plant in Mussafah. "Construction of the country's first integrated steelmaking operation continues to advance with the commissioning of a world-scale plant that will produce steel billets, the raw material for ESI's new state-of-the-art rolling mills," the company said in a statement. The latest plant includes an electric arc furnace and a caster to mould the billets.
GULF EXTRUSIONS, ONE of the largest aluminum extrusion plants in the Gulf, recently announced that it has been awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certification for Quality Management, a benchmark of excellence given to companies that conform to worldclass international standards. The certification affirms the company?s continuing thrust of providing only the best quality aluminum products in the region.
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