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Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has signed a series of agreements with PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (INALUM) to provide technological know-how to upgrade the Indonesian company’s aluminium smelter in North Sumatra.

The signing was part of Indonesia UAE Week, organised by the two countries’ Embassies to further deepen economic ties between the UAE and Indonesia.

EGA will provide expertise to upgrade the performance of the INALUM smelter by retrofitting improvements to its existing technology, which was first installed in 1982.

The project, which is expected to take some 18 months to complete, aims to increase production at the North Sumatran smelter by 20,000 tonnes of aluminium per year. EGA has extensive experience in upgrading aluminium smelting technology. The company has completed a series of similar upgrades across its sites in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah over the past decade.

EGA and INALUM also signed an extension to a Memorandum of Understanding on broader cooperation, which envisages potential cooperation on the construction of a new aluminium smelter in Indonesia using EGA’s proprietary technology.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “EGA’s UAE-developed technology and technological know-how is taking its place amongst the best in the world in terms of efficiency, cost effectiveness and sustainability. This is a source of pride for the UAE, as our technology is well-recognised worldwide.  

“EGA has also developed significant expertise in retrofitting older technology locally in the UAE as well regionally. This is what our engineers will be doing with INALUM over the next 18 months  We are confident we will complete this project ahead of the contractual schedule.

“EGA is looking to strengthen our strategic relationships with Indonesian companies  throughout the aluminium value chain in near future,” Mr Bin Kalban concluded.

By this collaboration INALUM will increase the production capacity of aluminium ingot, billet and foundry alloy which have been exported worldwide.

EGA has developed its own aluminium smelting technology for more than 25 years, and has used UAE-developed technology in all its smelter expansions since then.

In 2016, EGA became the first UAE industrial company to license its core industrial process technology internationally, in a major milestone in the development of a knowledge economy in the UAE. Aluminium Bahrain’s Potline 6, built with EGA’s DX+ Ultra technology, began production in 2019.

Last month EGA signed an agreement with NEO Aluminio Colombia which could lead to the export of EGA technology for the development of the South American country’s first aluminium production facility.