Photo Credit : WAM
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has announced significant early progress in restoring operations at its Al Taweelah facility, with key milestones achieved ahead of schedule following major damage caused by the March 28 attacks targeting the Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi.
The incident forced an emergency shutdown of the Al Taweelah complex, one of the world’s largest aluminium production hubs. EGA confirmed that two employees were injured during the incident and required hospital treatment, but both have now been discharged and continue their recovery.
The company has deployed a specialised restoration team to oversee the phased restart of the facility. According to EGA, essential utilities have already been restored, while natural gas and electricity supplies are being scaled up to support the restart programme.
The Al Taweelah smelter, which operates 1,262 reduction cells, has made notable progress. EGA said anode removal is complete across all cells, bath cleaning has reached around 90 percent, and frozen metal has been removed from over 20 percent of the cells. The first restored reduction cell resumed operations on May 26, with 89 cells now back online.
Production ramp-up is expected to continue gradually, with full restoration to pre-incident levels likely to take up to one year.
Meanwhile, the Al Taweelah Casthouse resumed operations on May 4, producing cast metal by remelting frozen aluminium recovered during restoration. The site’s recycling plant has also resumed production after restarting final commissioning in April, with full capacity expected within six months.
At the alumina refinery, first production is anticipated in the third quarter, with supply chain optimisation ongoing to support faster scaling.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, CEO of EGA, said the company remains focused on a disciplined recovery plan and is exploring every opportunity to accelerate progress.
EGA also confirmed its Jebel Ali site remains fully operational, helping sustain production and customer supply while the Al Taweelah site recovers. The company has established alternative export routes outside the Strait of Hormuz to ease logistics disruptions, while its recycling plants in the United States and Germany continue normal operations.
