Production milestone at Sohar Aluminium

Sohar Aluminium's $2.4 billion (Dh8.81 billion) smelter on Saturday marked the production of its one millionth tonne of aluminium — a milestone achieved just over three years after it launched operations in June 2008.On the occasion, the company's CEO, Henk Pauw, joined production staff at the smelter's 1.2km potline for a photo opportunity, as well as a tour of the premises in the Omani industrial port city.The production milestone is also seen as an opportunity for Sohar Aluminium to show off the project's operational capabilities as it lobbies the Omani government for additional natural gas commitments necessary for its expansion planned long ago.Sohar Aluminium aims to invest around $3 billion in doubling the smelter's capacity to a world-scale 720,000 tonnes per annum — a decision it hopes to take before the end of this year.Part of this investment will go towards the expansion of its 1,000 MW captive power plant which serves the energy-intensive smelter.The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) has a 40 per cent share in Sohar Aluminium. Among other owners are Oman Oil Company, and Rio Tinto Alcan. From / Gulf News