The Taweelah plant will have capacity of 1.4m tonnes a year when it is complete.
However, Adbic’s chief operating officer Jim White says its plant “will be at least as big as the one at Taweelah”.
Negotiations are in the final stages between Adbic and Australia’s Rio Tinto to establish a joint venture to develop the project, which will consist of three phases each with a capacity of 700,000 tonnes a year. The first phase is expected to cost $5bn.
US-based Bechtel conducted the engineering studies for the smelter. Germany’s Fichtner designed the power generation element. The Royal Bank of Scotland is acting as the financial adviser (MEED 27:10:06).