Aug 30 2010
The Ma’aden-Alcoa joint venture has selected Wagstaff, Inc. to supply the joint venture’s vertical direct chill casting complex with t-ingot, rolling ingot, and extrusion billet casting equipment.
The contract includes capital equipment and technology to produce aluminum rolling ingot and extrusion billet at the casting complex, currently under construction and scheduled to start production in 2013 in Ras Az Zawr, Saudi Arabia.
The greenfield smelter and rolling mill comprise the first of two phases in this super-project, which will leverage Saudi Arabia’s bauxite and energy resources with Alcoa know-how, management expertise and support to create the world’s largest and lowest cost fully integrated aluminum manufacturing complex. The rolling mill will be the region’s first and one of the most technologically advanced in the world and will primarily produce can stock, end stock and tab stock for the regional market. It will have initial hot-mill capacity of between 250,000 and 460,000 metric tons per year.
The new contract for the casting complex supply includes Wagstaff leading edge ingot and billet casting systems, as well as integrated automated controls, which have been shown to deliver improved recovery rates, and higher levels of workplace convenience and safety. The casting facility will also feature Alcoa’s advanced proprietary ingot casting technology which yields highly improved surface finish to rolling ingots with consequential gains in rolling efficiency and product quality.
“As a longstanding, dedicated supplier to global Alcoa casting facilities and with many successful greenfield installations in the Middle East and around the world, Wagstaff is uniquely positioned to provide precision, state-of-the-art direct chill casting equipment to the Ma’aden Alcoa joint venture, and to remain a constant resource from current equipment design activities through delivery, commissioning, operator training, post-startup technical support, and beyond,” said Ray Kilmer, Vice President, Alcoa Global Rolled Products.