Emal smelter 60% complete

Emirates Aluminium (Emal), planned to be the world's largest single aluminium smelter, is 60 per cent complete, according to Arabic language Al Khaleej, which cited a company executive.

"Construction works are ongoing according to plan and the budget allocated by the company, pointing to more than 60 per cent of the project being completed," said Yousuf Abdulla Bastaki, the project director of Emal.

Emal is a 50-50 joint venture between Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal) and Mubadala Development Company, an investment vehicle owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi. Dubal aims to bring the first phase of the smelter online in December with a capacity of 700,000 tonnes per year, the company said in March.

The plant will eventually have the capacity to produce 1.4 million tonnes per year and would come fully online between 2013-2014, Bastaki said.

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