Heavy Industry & Metallurgy
Bahrain
500 Employees or more
In the mid 1960s, the Bahrain Government was seeking to diversify its economic base from a heavy dependence on oil. The aim was to establish a suitable industry which would provide valuable export earnings, develop the country's resources and create training and employment opportunities for a large number of Bahrainis. Bahrain was well situated geographically between the source of raw materials, particularly alumina from Australia, and the markets for primary aluminium in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Bahrain's prime advantage was its plentiful supply of gas from the Khuff field to meet the high energy requirements of aluminium production. Aluminium Bahrain was therefore incorporated by Charter in 1968 and officially commissioned on 11th May 1971 as a 120,000 tonnes per annum smelter. Today, the company produces more than 500,000 tonnes per annum, having expanded in 1981, 1990, 1992 and 1997 - making the smelter one of the largest single-site producers of aluminium in the world. The three shareholders are the Government of Bahrain (77%), the Saudi Public Investment Fund (20%) and Breton Investments (3%).