Production begins at expansion of EGA Spectro Alloys recycling plant in US

Zawya

09-07-2025

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest 'premium aluminium' producer in the world, today announced the start of production at the expansion of the EGA Spectro Alloys aluminium recycling plant in Minnesota in the United States.
The expansion adds 55 thousand tonnes of secondary billet production capacity in the first phase. The ramp-up to full production is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2026. The expansion takes EGA Spectro Alloys' total production capacity to 165 thousand tonnes per year of recycled aluminium ingots and billets.
Metal from the expansion project will be sold under EGA's recycled aluminium product brand RevivAL.
The completion of the expansion project at EGA Spectro Alloys brings EGA's global aluminium recycling capacity to 195 thousand tonnes per year, with plants in the United States and Germany.
EGA is currently building the UAE's largest aluminium recycling plant in Al Taweelah, which will have a capacity of 170 thousand tonnes per year of aluminium billets. The UAE recycling plant is expected to begin production in the first half of 2026.
Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Emirates Global Aluminium, said today: 'Reaching first hot metal at the expansion of EGA Spectro Alloys is another milestone in our drive to build a global aluminium recycling business to meet growing demand for this low carbon metal. It is also a milestone in EGA's growth in the United States, already one of our most important markets and where we are progressing our plans to build a primary aluminium production plant in Oklahoma.'
Demand for recycled aluminium in the United States is expected to reach some 7.6 million tonnes per year by 2033, according to CRU, an independent business intelligence organisation. The United States is currently the world's second biggest recycled aluminium market.
Recycling aluminium requires 95 per cent less electricity than making new metal, and generates a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions.
In Oklahoma, EGA plans to develop the first new primary aluminium production plant in the United States of America since 1980.
The plant is expected to have a production capacity of 600 thousand tonnes of primary aluminium per year, nearly doubling the United States' current production. Some 85 per cent of the aluminium needs of American industries, from automotive to aviation and construction, are currently met by imports.
EGA acquired 80 per cent of EGA Spectro Alloys in 2024.
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Contacts at EGA:
Theodora Gabrah
[e-mail]
About EGA
Since 1975, when it was founded as Dubai Aluminium by His Highness Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Global Aluminium has been innovating aluminium to make modern life possible.
Today EGA is the world's biggest 'premium aluminium' producer and the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry.
EGA is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.
EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations on four continents from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium and recycling. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah in the United Arab Emirates, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah, a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea, a speciality foundry in high strength recycled aluminium in Germany, and a recycling plant in the United States.
EGA's aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2024, EGA sold 2.74 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.
EGA has more than 400 customers in over 50 countries. In 2024, value-added products accounted for 82 per cent of EGA's cast metal sales.
EGA's aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.
Around 10 per cent of EGA's aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA's aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports more than 52,000 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including more than 1,300 UAE Nationals.
EGA has focused on technology development for over 30 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.
As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world's leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA's Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. EGA's Jebel Ali site was certified in 2021. EGA's bauxite mining subsidiary, Guinea Alumina Corporation, achieved the first ASI certification in Guinea in 2023. Al Taweelah alumina refinery was certified later in 2023. EGA's German speciality foundry was certified in 2023, before its acquisition by EGA.
In 2021, EGA began production of CelestiAL solar aluminium, produced with solar power from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park on the outskirts of Dubai. EGA is the first company in the world to make aluminium commercially using the power of the sun.
EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.
EGA's Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.
EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA's Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.
EGA has its own power stations at both sites in the UAE, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA's electricity generation capacity is 6,474 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.
EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA's alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE's dependence on imported alumina and supplies over 49 per cent of EGA's needs.
Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA's wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project was one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.
For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae