Al KHOBAR: Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) has restarted one of the two potlines at its new aluminium smelter in Saudi Arabia, the company said yesterday.
The $10.8bn aluminium plant at Ras Al Khair, a joint venture between Ma’aden and US-based Alcoa, shut one of its smelting lines in mid October due to problems encountered during a ramp up of production.
“The ramp up and increase of the first potline production is expected to reach production capacity within the second quarter of 2014,” Ma’aden said in a Saudi stock market statement. It did not say when production resumed.
The other potline, a series of containers used to smelt aluminium, did not have to shut during its initial ramp up. The two lines have a combined production capacity of 740,000 tonnes a year of aluminium.
Reuters
