Qatalum resumes production

Qatalum restarted aluminium production from the first cell on September 15, following a shutdown on August 10.

Following the successful start-up of Pot C114, Qatalum is expected to reach full capacity by the end of the first quarter 2011. Prior to the power outage that caused production to shut down, the plant was expected to reach full capacity by end of 2010.

"Qatalum employees are working round the clock to restore the other pots affected by the power failure we experienced last month. The root causes of the incident have been identified and are being rectified, and additional measures are being put in place to prevent such incidents from happening in the future," said Qatalum CEO Jan Arve Haugan.

Qatalum is a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Hydro, and will have a production capacity of 585,000 tonnes primary aluminium per year when in full production.