Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

The project to develop an aluminium industrial complex in Algeria’s Hautes Plaines region has made significant progress after expression of interest (EoI) documents were submitted in May, according to industry sources.

The facility is being developed by Algeria’s state-owned Madar Holding and has an estimated value of around $300m.

Under the current plan, the facility will be tendered in two packages.

The scope of package one includes:

• Construction of a can-making facility
• Construction of the raw material handling area
• Installation of trimming machines
• Installation of conveyors, can handling systems and palletising equipment
• Installation of utilities infrastructure related to power, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, water treatment and compressed air
• Construction of support facilities including a maintenance workshop, offices and warehouses

The scope of package two includes:

• Installation of a rolling mill
• Installation of melting and casting furnaces
• Installation of material handling systems such as coil handling facilities, recoilers and shears
• Construction of utilities infrastructure related to power, compressed air, lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and water treatment
• Installation of process cooling systems infrastructure such as water cooling towers, chillers and heat exchangers
• Construction of support infrastructure such as maintenance workshops, warehouses, offices and storage yards

The request to submit EoI documents was issued in April this year.

Algeria is currently seeing an uptick in metal and mining project activity.

In March, site preparation and construction work started at the 234-acre Oued Amizour zinc and lead mining project in Algeria’s Bejaia province.

The project is being developed by Bejaia Zinc & Lead, an Algerian-Australian joint venture that was formerly known as Western Mediterranean Zinc.

In November 2024, the company signed a $336m contract with Sinosteel Equipment & Engineering Company (Sinosteel MECC) to develop the project.

The contract covers the construction of a 2-million-tonne-a-year process plant, an underground mine, a backfill plant, a dry-stack tailings storage facility and associated infrastructure.