Saudi Maaden Restarts Aluminum Plant Production Line

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has restarted one of the two potlines at its new aluminum smelter in Saudi Arabia, the company said on Sunday.

The $10.8-billion aluminum plant at Ras al-Khair, a joint venture between Maaden and U.S.-based Alcoa, shut one of its smelting lines in mid-October due to problems encountered during a ramp up of production.

“The ramp up and increase of the first potline production is expected to reach production capacity within the second quarter of 2014,” Maaden said in a Saudi stock market statement. It did not say when production resumed.

The other potline, a series of containers used to smelt aluminum, did not have to shut during its initial ramp up. The two lines have a combined production capacity of 740,000 tonnes a year of aluminum.

Source: Reuters