South Koreas Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company has won a US$1.5 billion contract from the Ma?aden/Alcoa joint venture to build an aluminium refinery in the?Saudi Arabian town of?Ras Al Khair
The refinery, to be constructed in the Eastern Province, will have an annual production capacity of 1.8 million metric tonnes of smelter-grade alumina and will be completed by the end of 2014.
"The signing of this contract represents another milestone in the development of the world?s largest, lowest-cost, fully-integrated aluminium complex that will help make Saudi Arabia a major upstream player in the global aluminium industry,? said Ma?aden president and chief executive officer Khalid al Mudaifer.
Ma'aden said that the contract would include completing detailed engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning assistance and training services.
?The aluminium complex will produce a wide range of products suitable for further downstream manufacturing such as food grade can sheet, automotive heat-treated and non-heat-treated sheet, building and construction sheet and foil stock sheet," Mudaifer added.
The plant will be the first alumina refinery in the region and will incorporate Alcoa?s technologically-advanced natural water system to treat, recycle and conserve significant volumes of water.
The Ras Al Khair complex is 74.9 per cent owned by Ma?aden and 25.1 per cent by Alcoa.
