The Board of Directors of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) yesterday praised the smelter’s historic achievement in setting a new world record with the 77-Day Safe Start-up of Line 5.
“In commissioning the longest reduction line in the world in record time, the employees of Alba – 90 per cent of whom are Bahraini employees - have proved themselves to be the world’s best and earned Bahrain international praise and recognition for its industrial excellence,” said the Minister of Oil and Chairman of the Alba Board of Directors, Shaikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa. “This is a national achievement of international significance and we have every reason to be proud,” he said.
The board also approved a cash bonus payment of BD1,000 to each Alba employee to show its appreciation for the great efforts and expertise that every employee contributed to ensuring this great patriotic achievement. “This illustrates the exceptional working environment at Alba and becomes a glowing example of cooperation between partners in the Kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain,” he said.
The Chairman made his remarks following a meeting of the Alba Board of Directors which was held at the Ritz Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa and was attended by board members representing Alba’s three shareholders; the Government of Bahrain, Sabic Industrial Investments and Breton Investments as well as members of the Alba Executive Management Team.
During the meeting, Shaikh Isa bin Ali expressed appreciation to His Majesty the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and the Crown Prince, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa for their continuous support.
The 77-Day Safe Start-up campaign concluded the construction of the longest reduction line in the world as part of Alba’s latest expansion project. The $1.7 billion project included the addition of a fifth potline, an environmentally friendly power plant, a carbon plant and cast house developments. With Line 5 now commissioned, Alba’s annual metal production capacity will increase to 830,000 tpa and make it the largest modern aluminium smelter in the world.
This, in turn, increases Alba’s annual contribution to the national economy to more than $300 million and creates hundreds of permanent jobs for the national workforce.
Originally set to be a 260,000 tpa potline, the Alba Executive Management team have been able to increase the new potline’s capacity to 307,000 tpa while remaining within the original approved budget. As a result, Line 5 has a total of 336 pots spanning more than one kilometre in length. The technology is an improved version of the AP30 technology utilised in Alba’s Potline 4.
The Board of Directors also praised Alba’s production performance as well as its distinguished achievements in its five Key Performance Indicators: Safety, People, Environment, Cost and Productivity.
During the meeting, the board also reviewed Alba’s long-term strategy and its business plan and approved plans to study, in greater detail, a further expansion of the Calcining Plant as well a potential investment opportunity in a new, alumina refinery project to provide upstream integration.
The board, upon the directives of the Chairman, also approved plans to spend BD4.2 million for various projects at the plant. The plans, in line with Alba’s long-standing commitment to ensuring the safety of its employees and protection the environment, involved installing a safe, modern switch gear to meet the latest environmental standards. The plans also include installing an oil regeneration plant at the smelter to improve efficiency and further reduce waste generation. The oil regeneration plant will allow Alba to re-cycle oil used in its power transformers.
The board meeting was attended by Dr Mohammed J.K. Alghatam, Shaikh Ebrahim bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Nader K. Al Moayyad, Dr. Fayez Hashem Al Sadah, from Bahrain; Mohamed H. Al Mady, Mutaq H. Al Morished, Mohamed S. Al Jabr, from Saudi Arabia; Gert Rohrseitz from Brenton Investments and Ahmed S. Al Noaimi, Mahmood A. Daylami and Dr Abu Baker Al Siddiq from the Alba management.
Last update on: 26-5-2005