EGA’s aluminium is the biggest made-in-the-UAE export after oil and gas, bringing in billions of dollars of export revenue each year contributing to the diversification of the national economy.

Four per cent of the world’s aluminium production or almost half of the aluminium produced in the Gulf Cooperation Council, is made by EGA. That means approximately one in every 25 tonnes of aluminium is UAE-made.

EGA’s development since the 1970s has taken the UAE from no aluminium production to the fifth largest aluminium-producing country in the world.

EGA has developed aluminium smelting technology in the UAE for more than 25 years. All EGA’s smelter expansions since the 1990s have used homegrown UAE technology, and EGA has also retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016, EGA became the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally.

EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina, the feedstock for aluminium smelters, and has the capacity to meet 40 per cent of EGA’s needs.

Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years. Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is derived. EGA was the second largest third-party seller of bauxite in the world in 2020, GAC’s first full production year.