DUBAL's roots actually stem back to 5 May 1975, when the late H
H Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (then Ruler of Dubai) signed a
decree establishing DUBAL as a joint-venture company. The smelter
complex would be built on a 480-hectare site near Jebel Ali
village, 35 kilometres south-west of Dubai alongside the then
two-lane highway to Abu Dhabi.
Almost five months later, on 15 October 1975, H H Sheikh Rashid
laid DUBAL's foundation stone. Construction of the smelter complex
began in May 1976. Working under very tough physical conditions in
the desert and salt flats of Jebel Ali, it took four years to
complete the arduous task. At the time, it was the biggest basic
industry development project in the world. The emerging DUBAL
development was one of three major industrial and construction
projects taking place simultaneously in the Jebel Ali area, the
other two being the Jebel Ali Port - then the largest man-made
harbour in the world, where DUBAL would have its own dedicated port
facilities; and the Dugas gas plant - which was constructed
adjacent to DUBAL. Together, the three projects made the Jebel Ali
area, as a whole, the world's biggest building site.
The official 'birth' of DUBAL took place in 1979, and was marked
by four key events:
- On 26 February 1979, Queen Elizabeth II turned on the tap at
the DUBAL desalination plant, in the company of H H Sheikh Rashid,
thereby officially commissioning the facility.
- On 31 October 1979, the first reduction cell (no. 2 in Line 1A)
was powered up (the cell was nicknamed 'Hazel', after Production
Manager Dick Black's secretary Hazel Pinto).
- On 12 November 1979, the first metal was tapped from 'Hazel'
and poured into 20 kg moulds in the casthouse (the metal was used
to make souvenir ingots).
- On 31 December 1979, the first green (pre-baked) anode was
produced by the greenmill.
Commercial production of aluminium at DUBAL began in January
1980, the entire planned production volume of 135,000 metric tonnes
per annum having been pre-sold to two companies in North America.
The plant comprised 360 reduction cells in three potlines.
Through a series of successive expansion projects
in the intervening years, DUBAL has evolved into the world's
largest modern aluminium smelter with a captive power station. Our
company's major facilities at Jebel Ali comprise a one million
metric tonne per- annum primary aluminium smelter, a 2,350 megawatt
power station (at 30°C), a large carbon plant, casting operations
with a capability of more than 1,270,000 metric tonnes per annum, a
30 million gallon per day water desalination plant, laboratories,
port and storage facilities.
Our Jebel Ali smelter currently has 1,573 fully operational cells
in seven potlines. Exceptionally high purity of metal is
maintained, with the standard purity cells delivering 99.89 per
cent and the high purity cells achieving up to 99.98 per cent metal
purity levels. Our facilities can produce more than one million
metric tonnes of high quality finished aluminium products a year,
in three main forms: foundry alloy for automotive applications;
extrusion billet for construction, industrial, forging and
transportation purposes; and high purity aluminium for the
electronics and aerospace industries.
Our entire production is pre-sold to more than 300 customers in at
least 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).
Ranked in 2008 as one of the largest single-site smelters in the
world and seventh-largest producer of primary aluminium in the
world as a whole, DUBAL has set its corporate sites on becoming one
of the world's top five producers of primary aluminium by 2015.
With this in mind, DUBAL entered into a joint protocol in February
2006 with Mubadala Development Company ("Mubadala"), a wholly-owned
investment vehicle of the government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The resulting joint venture aims to become one of the largest
primary producers of aluminium in the world by leveraging the
synergy of DUBAL's aluminium expertise and Abu
Dhabi's energy and financial resources. Good progress has been made
towards this ambition, starting with the signature by DUBAL of a
joint venture agreement with Mubadala in February 2007, to create
Emirates Aluminium Company Limited ("EMAL") with the mandate to
develop a green-field aluminium smelter at Al Taweelah in Abu
Dhabi.
The EMAL Project has
been designed to be the largest aluminium smelter in the world,
and one of the most competitive low-cost smelters in the
industry. The 756-cell EMAL Phase I with a capacity of 740,000
tonnes per annum, and a power plant with generating capacity of
2,000 MW, has operated at full capacity since 2011.
EMAL Phase I, incorporates advanced DUBAL DX technology
and benefits from other operational synergies with DUBAL.
EMAL Phase II, entailing a new 444-cell potlines, additional
power generation capacity and an upgrade of the existing potlines.
DUBAL's DX+ Technology has been specified for EMAL Phase II. On
completion, EMAL will have a total production capacity of 1.3
million metric tonnes per year.
In addition to EMAL, our company has been reviewing, together
with partners, other aluminium projects in the MENA region which,
after feasibility studies are completed, will also benefit from
DUBAL technology, project execution and operational expertise.
Further progress is also being made to secure DUBAL's
requirements of critical raw materials With
regards to alumina feedstock, the company is in partnerships to
develop several strategic upstream bauxite/alumina projects, the
most active being:
- A Joint Venture agreement was signed in May 2007, regarding
DUBAL's participation in Guinea Alumina Corporation, a
bauxite mining-alumina refinery project in Republic of Guinea. The
other partners are BHP Billiton, Mubadala and Global Alumina.
- DUBAL entered into a joint venture with Hindalco of India and
Hydromine of USA in November 2008, to form Cameroon
Alumina Limited, as a vehicle to exploit an estimated 500
million metric tonne bauxite reserve in Cameroon.
- In April 2009, DUBAL purchased a stake in a joint venture
alumina refinery project in Brazil, known as Companhia
de Alumina do Pará (the CAP project), along with VALE of
Brazil and Norsk Hydro of Norway.
Throughout the decades, DUBAL has been committed to safeguarding
the safety and health of all its employees, protecting the
environment, and maintaining the highest quality standards.
Substantial, ongoing investments have also been made in recruiting
the best talent, then retaining people through a combination of
skills training and career development opportunities and
competitive remuneration packages. In consequence, more
than 132 employees also celebrated their 30 years' service
anniversary by 2011.
By diligently partnering with the Dubai government, DUBAL has
played a key role in the socio-economic development of the local
community. Over and above the company's substantial direct and
indirect contributions to the economy, DUBAL actively supports
community-based initiatives that fulfil the nation's broader
development goals. Preference is given to corporate sponsorship of
world-class sporting and industry events that showcase Dubai's
superb tourism and business infrastructure to international
audiences while demonstrating the city's innovative and
cosmopolitan flair; as well as to projects that enhance education
so as to enable effective Nationalisation of business.
In the summer of 1980, there were very few UAE nationals among
DUBAL's workforce of 1,386 employees. Today, employment is provided
to more than 3,800 people, of whom approximately 15 per cent
are UAE Nationals. At senior management level, 65 per cent of
positions are held by UAE Nationals. While the resulting
multi-cultural workforce comprises a wide diversity of language and
culture, our employees are united by a common goal of corporate
good.