20/04/2011
Maaden, Alcoa officials inspect Ras Al-Zour projects
Maaden and Alcoa officials inspect their aluminum smelter project in Ras Al-Zour on Tuesday
Senior officials from the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and US company Alcoa Inc. inspected the progress of work at an aluminum smelter project and aluminum rolling mill at Ras Al-Zour.
They also inspected a power plant designed to generate 2,400 MW of electricity and 1.025 million cubic meters of desalinated water per day as well as the seaport and railway system.
The delegation included Abdullah Al-Saif, chairman of Maaden’s board of directors; Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO of Alcoa; and Khaled Al-Mudaifer, CEO of Maaden. They were received by Abdullah Basfar, chairman of the board of directors of Maaden Aluminum Co. and Abdul Aziz Al-Harbi, president of the company.
Maaden’s aluminum project includes the development and construction of a bauxite mine near Al-Baitha with a mine life of over 30 years and an annual capacity of 4 million metric tons as well as facilities for handling raw materials.
It also comprises the development, design, construction and operation of an integrated aluminum operation at Ras Al-Zour about 90 km north of Jubail Industrial City. Facilities there will include an alumina refinery with a capacity of 1.8 million metric tons per year, a 740,000 metric ton per year aluminum smelter and an aluminum rolling mill with a capacity of 250,000 tons per year.
The bauxite will be transported from the mine site located between Hail and Qassim provinces via the north-south railway to Ras Al-Zour, where it will be refined to produce alumina, which in turn will be processed in the aluminum smelter to produce aluminum.
