:: UAE to build $6bn Aluminium Smelter

The United Arab Emirates unveiled plans yesterday for a $6bn aluminium smelter complex as part of a strategic thrust into the red-hot global aluminium industry.

The smelter will start operations in 2010 and will eventually have an annual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes, making it the largest of its kind in the world, said Abdullah Kalban, chief executive of Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd, known as Dubal.

About 70 per cent of the venture will be financed through local and foreign borrowing, while the equity component will be shared by Dubai government-owned Dubal and Mubadala Development Co, the investment arm of the emirate of Abu Dhabi.