Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest ‘premium aluminium’ producer in the world, today announced the extension of its CelestiAL-R supply agreement with the BMW Group for the upcoming years.

CelestiAL-R is the world’s first blend of aluminium made with solar power and recycled metal.

The BMW Group uses EGA’s CelestiAL-R to manufacture high-quality aluminium components for its vehicles.

Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, visited EGA’s plant in Jebel Ali and Dubai Electricity & Water Authority’s Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to mark the signing of the new agreement.

EGA has supplied aluminium to the BMW Group since 2013. The BMW Group was the first customer to purchase CelestiAL solar aluminium in 2021. Since the start of 2023, all metal supplied by EGA to BMW Group has been CelestiAL-R.

EGA will continue to supply tens of thousands of tonnes of CelestiAL-R each year. The goal is to significantly further increase the proportion of recycled metal.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said: “The BMW Group demands the highest quality metal produced with solar power, and this continues to drive our innovation at EGA. Over the coming years, we will further increase the proportion of recycled metal in our CelestiAL-R for the BMW Group while meeting their metal quality specifications. I thank the BMW Group for their trust in EGA.”

Producing consistently high-quality metal from increasing proportions of diverse scrap is technically challenging. EGA conducts detailed chemical composition analysis using optical emission spectrometry at every step of the metal production process, to ensure CelestiAL-R meets exact specifications. The company operates advanced metallurgy laboratories at both Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah.

EGA was the first company in the world to produce aluminium commercially using solar power. Generating the electricity required accounts for some 60 per cent of the global aluminium industry’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Aluminium is infinitely recyclable. Recycling aluminium requires 95 per cent less electricity than producing new metal and generates a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions.

EGA sources recycled aluminium from UAE providers. EGA is building the UAE’s largest aluminium recycling facility in Al Taweelah. On completion, the recycling plant will have a capacity of 170 thousand tonnes of secondary billets per year. First hot metal is expected from EGA’s new recycling plant in 2026.

Contacts at EGA:
Theodora Gabrah
tgabrah@ega.ae

About EGA

Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.

Today EGA is the world’s biggest ‘premium aluminium’ producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.

EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations on four continents from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium and recycling. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah in the United Arab Emirates, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah, a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea, a speciality foundry in high strength recycled aluminium in Germany, and a recycling plant in the United States.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2023, EGA sold 2.75 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2023, value-added products accounted for 76 per cent of EGA’s cast metal sales.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Around 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports more than 57,000 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including more than 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 30 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA’s Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. EGA’s bauxite mining subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation, achieved the first ASI certification in Guinea in 2023. Al Taweelah alumina refinery was certified later in 2023. EGA’s German speciality foundry was certified in 2023, before its acquisition by EGA.

In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun.

EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.

EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.

EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.

EGA has its own power stations at both sites in the UAE, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.

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 and supplies over 48 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.

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae.