UAE to build Dh11b alumina refinery by end-2017

State-owned Emirates Global Aluminium plans to spend $3 billion (Dh11 billion) to build an alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi, chief executive Abdulla Kalban said on Tuesday.

Feasibility studies have been completed and the refinery will be operational by the end of 2017, Kalban told reporters. Alumina, extracted from bauxite in the refining process, is used to produce primary aluminium.

"We are building the refinery to secure our own important materials," Kalban said, adding that the refinery would ultimately produce four million tonnes annually.

Emirates Global Aluminium, the world's fifth-largest aluminium company with an enterprise value of about $15 billion, was formed by the merger last year of Abu Dhabi's Emirates Aluminium (Emal) and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal).

Dubai Aluminium plans $600m smelter upgrade

Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) plans to spend $600 million over the next three years to upgrade its smelter, an executive of its parent company, Emirates Global Aluminium, said on Tuesday.

The Dubai entity currently produces 1.1 million tonnes of aluminium per year, with the planned upgrade set to enhance output by 100,000 tonnes when completed, according to Yousuf Bastaki, senior vice president of major projects at Emirates Global Aluminium.

"About $600 million is the plan for upgrading the plant in three years’ time," Bastaki told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry event in Abu Dhabi.

Bastaki declined to confirm if funding for the upgrade would come through bank loans.

Banking sources told Reuters earlier this month Dubal had held preliminary talks with banks about raising a loan to help fund its general operations, in what would be the first such facility for the firm in years.