Dubal : Dubai Aluminium

All the facts and figures you want to know about DUBAL

Having begun to tap metal in November 1979, DUBAL celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, i.e. 2009. Over the three decades, the company’s production capacity has increased more than seven-fold. From a relatively small smelter operation utilizing three potlines which produced 135,000 metric tonnes of aluminium per annum in 1979, DUBAL has expanded its operations to encompass eight potlines with the capacity to produce more than 980,000 metric tonnes of quality hot, molten aluminium each year (hot metal production volumes are expected to approximate one million tonnes by the end of 2010).

Today, DUBAL is the world’s largest modern aluminium smelter with a captive power station. It is also the industrial flagship of Dubai, and one of the largest non-oil contributors to the Emirate’s economy.

Built on a 480 hectare site in Jebel Ali, Dubai, DUBAL’s major facilities comprise a 981,000 tonnes per annum primary aluminium smelter, a 2,350 megawatt power station (at 30°C), a large carbon plant, three casthouses (with a combined capacity of 1,160,000 metric tonnes per year), a 30 million gallon per day water desalination plant, laboratories, port and storage facilities.

The company produces almost one million tonnes of high quality finished aluminium products per year, in three main forms: foundry alloy for automotive applications; extrusion billet for construction, industrial and transportation purposes; and high purity aluminium for the electronics and aerospace industries. Each year, the entire production is pre-sold to more than 300 customers in about 45 countries predominantly in the Far East, Europe, the ASEAN region, the Middle East and Mediterranean region, and North America. The company holds ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 20000, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification; and has twice won the Dubai Quality Award in the Production and Manufacturing sector (1996 and 2000).

Driven by a quest for continuous improvement and ongoing innovation, DUBAL has invested substantial sums of money over the past 25 years in developing advanced reduction cell technologies that not only improve productivity but also reduce the operations’ impact on the environment through improved energy efficiency and minimised emission levels. This has culminated most recently in DUBAL’s proprietary DX Technology, which ranks among the best in its class. Developed in 2006, DX Technology has been implemented in a dedicated 40-cell potline at DUBAL’s Jebel Ali smelter complex; and is being installed at the green-field EMAL smelter complex in Al Taweelah which, when completed, will be the largest single site green-field smelter in the world.

DUBAL provides employment to more than 4,100 people, of whom approximately 24 per cent are UAE Nationals. At senior management level, 70 per cent of positions are held by UA Nationals.