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[July 2006]
Almatis Celebrates Official Opening of Newly Expanded Tabular Alumina Facility
Almatis has just celebrated the official opening of its expanded tabular alumina facility in Qingdao, China. The opening ceremony, attended by the Vice Mayor of Qingdao, members of the local government and trade
organisations, as well as key customers, marks a milestone in the still young history of Almatis."With this new state-of-the-art plant, Almatis is now capable of producing and supplying our customers in mainland China and South East Asia even timelier and more efficiently with the quantity and quality they need," said Almatis CEO Oscar Groomes in his opening speech.
After the US$18 million investment in the expansion, which includes two new tabular converters and a completely new tabular CD processing line, the facility now possesses a fully integrated production line for the manufacture of tabular alumina. The construction, planned and executed by Liaoning MEC Group Ltd and more than 20 Almatis experts from around the world, was completed in just fifteen months.
Also in Qingdao, Almatis is now planning to build an additional calcined alumina facility by 2007 to meet the increased demand for calcined alumina products used in refractory and technical ceramic applications.
The history of Almatis business activities in China goes back to 1998 when the Huangdao plant was established as a processing plant, manufacturing crushed and sized alumina products. In 2002 the Qingdao Almatis Trading Co was founded, aiming to provide the customers in China with a one-stop service for all Almatis Premium Aluminas.
Beside its regional headquarters in Qingdao, Almatis opened a sales office in Shanghai in 2004 to respond to the rising market demand in Asia. Since then additional locations in Kaifeng, Wuhan and Guangzhou have been introduced. Qingdao Almatis Co Ltd employs a total of 140 people.
www.almatis.com/alumina
ENDS