Status Quo of Alumina Plants’ Production Limit

Oklahoma Primary Aluminum has released an economic impact study for its proposed US$4 billion primary aluminium facility in Inola, Oklahoma. The project, a joint venture between Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Century Aluminum, is expected to have an annual production capacity of 750,000 tonnes of primary aluminium once fully operational. According to the study, the project is expected to support around 7,000 Oklahoma jobs on average annually, with employment peaking at more than 10,600 in 2029. It is projected to add an average of US$1.45 billion per year to the state’s GDP and generate approximately US$49 billion in cumulative economic impact through 2060. The facility will use EGA’s proprietary EX reduction cell technology, while the project is also expected to support an additional US$400–500 million in regional infrastructure investment.

Novelis is reducing production at its Kingston, Ontario facility in Canada and laying off around 80 employees, representing roughly one-third of the site’s workforce. The company attributed the move to the cost of US Section 232 duties on Canadian aluminium imported into the United States. The Kingston facility operates cold rolling, finishing and annealing equipment and produces aluminium products for marine, transportation and industrial applications.

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has launched an E40 technology upgrade pilot at its Al Taweelah smelter, upgrading 13 DX technology reduction cells to validate performance before potential industrialisation across all 808 DX cells in potlines 1 and 2. If fully deployed, E40 could increase hot metal production from the two potlines by 67,000 tonnes per year, while reducing net specific energy consumption and associated power-generation CO₂ emissions by approximately 6% per tonne of metal produced. EGA is accelerating the pilot during the ongoing restoration of the Al Taweelah smelter.