Tag Archives: UAE

KIZAD and Lepidico to collaborate on Middle East’s first lithium production facility

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Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), a subsidiary of AD Ports Group’s Industrial Cities & Free Zone (IC&FZ) cluster, has announced the signing of an agreement with Lepidico Ltd, a lithium exploration and development company, for establishing the first lithium production facility in the Middle East, utilising a first-of-its-kind process.

Covering a land area of 57,000 sq.m, the first phase of Lepidico’s development for the AED348 million ($95 million) chemical plant will house clean-tech L-Max® and LOH-Max® process technologies. The process extracts lithium and recovers valuable by-products from lithium mica and phosphate minerals. As an eco-friendly, zero-waste facility, the residue, predominantly gypsum, will be repurposed for use in the construction industry, KIZAD said.

Abdullah Al Hameli, Head of Industrial Cities & Free Zone Cluster, AD Ports Group, said: “AD Ports Group is committed to supporting cutting-edge innovative solutions that advance industrial development within the UAE. Lepidico’s process technology also aligns with our sustainability principles and our vision to support innovative environmental solutions that contribute to the long-term sustainable development of Abu Dhabi, as outlined by the leadership of the emirate.

“We are pleased to host an innovative and environmentally-conscious company like Lepidico, which aims to establish the region’s first lithium production facility in the Middle East, located in KIZAD. The project is a critical enabler for developing an electric vehicle supply chain in the Middle East.”

Joe Walsh, Managing Director, Lepidico, said: “The signing of the agreement represents an important milestone in developing the first phase of the new chemical plant and enables critical path geotechnical and infrastructure EPCM works to commence.

“In our endeavour to developing a sustainable lithium industry, we plan to integrate social, economic, environmental, and health and safety opportunities as part of the project design criteria and strive for a zero-waste process through our innovative and proprietary technologies. We look forward to working with AD Ports Group as we bring the lithium chemical industry to the UAE and wider Middle East region.”

The vertically integrated Phase 1 Project (P1P) comprises two small scale open-pit mines that will feed a mineral concentrator in Namibia, following which the lepidolite concentrate will be shipped to the facility being developed in KIZAD via Khalifa Port.

Lepidico plans to invest approximately $95 million for the chemical conversion plant in Abu Dhabi for an initial term of 25 years, which will employ the company’s proprietary process technologies, L-Max and LOH-Max. The project is a significant step forward in developing a sustainable lithium hydroxide industry and supports the global clean energy revolution, the companies said.

Emirates Global Aluminium nears first production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery

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Emirates Global Aluminium has entered the final stages of commissioning of what will be the UAE’s first alumina refinery.

The Al Taweelah alumina refinery has now begun hot water testing of the digestion section of the plant, with first production still on course for the first half of 2019.

Digestion is the first of four successive stages of the Bayer process through which bauxite ore is refined into alumina, the feedstock for aluminium smelters, and involves the heating of a slurry of crushed bauxite and caustic soda to 270ºC using steam.

Commissioning of the last process stage, calcination, was completed in December, and, earlier this month, EGA’s nearby Al Taweelah power plant started delivering steam to the refinery through new connecting pipelines.

“Supplying steam from EGA’s existing power plant, which was built to provide electricity and steam for EGA’s Al Taweelah aluminium smelter, improves the alumina refinery’s overall energy efficiency,” the company said.

Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “We are making good progress with the complex process of commissioning Al Taweelah alumina refinery, in line with the meticulous planning and preparations which began even before construction started. We are looking forward to beginning production and ramping-up of this project, which along with our Guinea mine will transform EGA into an integrated global aluminium producer.”

Al Taweelah, which has a total budgeted project cost of approximately $3.3 billion, will be the first refinery in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East.

The company said: “Al Taweelah alumina refinery and the Guinea mining project expand EGA’s business upstream in the aluminium value chain and internationally. The projects will create new revenue streams for EGA and secure the competitive supply of natural resources the UAE’s aluminium industry needs.”

Once production is fully ramped-up, Al Taweelah alumina refinery is expected to produce some 2 Mt/y of alumina and meet 40% of EGA’s alumina requirements, replacing some imports.

Commissioning Al Taweelah alumina refinery requires more than 80,000 separate actions to be completed. The new plant contains some 9,500 instruments, 222 tanks, enough piping to stretch from Abu Dhabi to Muscat, and cabling that would reach from Abu Dhabi to Cairo.