Our History

1968

Incorporation

Alba is officially incorporated by an Amiri Decree on Friday 09 August 1968.

1969

Foundation Stone and Construction Works

The foundation stone for Alba’s smelter is laid by H.H. the late Amir Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, may God rest his soul in peace, on Monday 06 January 1969 at 4 PM, and the construction works start on Thursday 23 January 1969.

1971

First Hot Metal

Alba begins operations with 120,000 mtpa capacity as H.H. the late Amir Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, may God rest his soul in peace, poured the first ingot on Tuesday 11 May 1971 at 11:30 AM. Alba becomes the first aluminium smelter in the Middle East, and the first non-oil industry established in Bahrain.

1972

Aluminium Downstream

Bahrain Atomisers International is founded as the first company in Bahrain's aluminium downstream industry. In this photo, we see the inauguration ceremony of Bahrain Atomisers International, which was held under the patronage of H.H. the late Amir Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, may God rest his soul in peace.

1974

Alba Healthcare Centre

Alba inaugurates in February a new and advanced building, at a cost of 75,000 Bahraini dinars, for the Alba Healthcare Centre, which is widely regarded as one of the most advanced medical centres to be set-up in an industrial plant in Bahrain.

1975

Joint Consultative Committee

The Government of Bahrain selects Alba to be the first Company in the country to have the privilege of forming a joint consultative committee as part of the Government's plans to encourage greater interaction between workers and management.

1976

Apprenticeship Scheme

Alba launches its Apprenticeship Scheme to boost Bahrainisation and inaugurates its new Training Centre.

1977

Rolling Slab

Alba adds Rolling Slab to its products’ portfolio, and Midal Cables as well as Bahrain Aluminium Extrusion Co. (BALEXCO) start their operations.

1979

Albaskan Housing Scheme

Alba starts its Albaskan Housing Scheme, and the Saudi Public Investment Fund acquires 20% of Alba's shares.

1980

THE ONE-MILLIONTH METRIC TONNE

Alba's production reaches a milestone as the company marks 1,000,000 metric tonnes of aluminium produced in less than a decade since inception.

1981

INAUGURATION OF REDUCTION LINE 3

Inauguration of Reduction Line 3 on Monday 25 May 1981, with a production capacity of 50K mtpa, bringing the total annual capacity of the smelter to 170K mt. In the photo, we can see H.H. the late Amir Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, H.R.H. the late Prime Minister of Bahrain Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the late Alba Chairman Mr. Mahmood Ahmed Al-Alawi and Alba Ex-CEO Mr. Gudvin Tofte.

1982

FIRST BATCH OF ALBASKAN UNITS

Opening of the first batch of Albaskan Scheme's housing units, comprising 63 houses on Thursday 25 February 1982.

1983

PRODUCTION CAPACITY OF BILLETS

Alba production capacity of Extrusion Billets is doubled to 60,000 mtpa.

1988

THE FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR LINE 4

The feasibility study for Reduction Line 4 begins, under the guidance of H.R.H. the late Prime Minister of Bahrain, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, may God rest his soul in peace.

1990

Inauguration of Line 3 Expansion

H.R.H. the late Prime Minister of Bahrain Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, may God rest his soul in peace, visits Alba on Tuesday 06 March 1990 to initiate the start-up of the 76th and final cell in the expansion project for Reduction Line 3 and announce the beginning of construction works of Reduction Line 4 which consists of two potrooms and 288 reduction cells.

1992

Inauguration of Line 4 and PS3

Inauguration of Reduction Line 4 (235,000 mtpa) and Power Station 3 (800MW), a month ahead of schedule on Monday, 18 May 1992, bringing Alba's total capacity to 440,000 mtpa.

1993

HM The King visits Alba

HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, then the Crown Prince and Commander in Chief of the Bahrain Defense Force, visit Alba on Monday 03 May 1993 to check first-hand the Company's various operations.

1994

Key Upgrades in Reduction Line 3

Key upgrades in Reduction Line 3 and inauguration of a new Fume Treatment Plant. Casthouse gets certified with ISO 9002.

1997

Opening of Line 3's Expansion

Alba is ranked as the lowest cost per tonne Aluminium producer in the world and Line 3's 76-cell Expansion is opened, bringing Alba's total production capacity to around 0.5M mtpa.

1998

Construction of Calciner Plant

Alba succeeds in reaching its goal of half a million tonnes in output as net finished product for the year reaches 500,664 metric tonnes. Work begins on land reclamation for the construction of the 450,000 metric tonne Coke Calcining Plant at Alba's Marine Terminal located on Alba's artificial island.

1999

Prince Khalifa bin Salman Award for Excellence

Alba receives the inaugural Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Excellence in Industry on 12 June 1999.

2000

Millennium Business Award

Alba wins the Millennium Business Award for Environmental Achievement from the International Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Alba was also invited to participate in the UN Global Compact Meetings as shown in the photo which features the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and Alba's Ex-CEO Karim Salimi.

2001

2002

Commissioning of Calciner

H.R.H. the late Prime Minister of Bahrain Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, may God rest his soul in peace, inaugurates Alba's Calciner plant on Wednesday 30 January 2002 with a capacity of 450,000 metric tonnes per annum in 2001.

2005

Inauguration of Reduction Line 5

H.R.H. the late Prime Minister of Bahrain Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, may God rest his soul in peace, inaugurates on Monday 05 September 2005 Alba's US$ 1.7B Reduction Line 5, which was started in 77 days only, breaking the world's record. Reduction Line 5 adds 307,000 mtpa to the total Capacity of Alba, bringing it to more than 830,000 mtpa.

2007

Breakthrough Record in Safety

Alba breaks the world's record twice in the same year by achieving 7 million hours without LTI at the beginning of the year and, later, 9 million hours.

2009

H.R.H. Princess Sabeeka Oasis

H.R.H. Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of H.M. the King and President of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), officially inaugurates the newly named H.R.H. Princess Sabeeka Oasis during her visit to Alba on Tuesday 10 March 2009.

2010

Alba's Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Alba has a dual listing on Bahrain Bourse and London Stock Exchange.

2012

Line 6's Bankable Feasibility Study

Alba kick-starts Line 6's Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) and awards the Letter of Intent (LOI) to Bechtel Canada to perform it. Dubal DX+ technology gets selected to be used in the study.

2013

Alba Power Marks Key Milestone

Alba increases capacity and enhances reliability of its Reduction Lines 1 and 2 with the successful completion of Rectiformers Replacement Project, one of the first brown field projects of this magnitude anywhere in the world. The project, which was achieved in 5 years, involved the replacement of 10 rectifiers that are responsible for providing the power supply to the Lines.

2014

Arabal and Production Record

Alba successfully hosts the 18th Arab International Aluminium Conference (Arabal), one of the key platforms of the aluminium industry in Middle East for the fourth time and achieves a breakthrough record in production with 931,427 mt.

2015

Line 6 Expansion Project Approved

Alba approves Line 6 Expansion Project, achieves 5 million hours without LTI for the first time in 7 years and upgrades its Reduction Lines 4 and 5's control systems with the Alpsys upon successful one decade of operations in Line 5. The Company also succeeds in breaking an all-time record on Sales & Production and strikes higher than the industry benchmark of 5% training hours.

2016

Upgrading Technology of Line 6 Smelter

Alba successfully closes US$1.5 billion syndicated loan - the first tranche of the Company's funding for the Line 6 Expansion Project, upgrades the technology for its Line 6 Smelter to EGA DX+ Ultra, achieves US$ 148 per metric tonne saving with its Project Titan - Phase I, and sets all-time production record of 971,420 metric tonnes.

2018

H.R.H. The Crown Prince Visits Alba

H.R.H. the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and Prime Minister Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, then the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, conducts a walkabout at Line 6 Expansion Project to check the overall progress achieved to-date.

2019

Inauguration Ceremony of Line 6 Expansion Project

H.M. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of the Kingdom of Bahrain, officially inaugurates Alba's Line 6 Expansion Project, which made Alba's the world's largest aluminium smelter ex-China with an annual production capacity of more than 1.5M mtpa.

2020

A Year Like No Other But a Record Breaking Year

Alba achieves historical Safety milestone by achieving for the first time in its history 24.5 million working-hours without a single Lost Time Injury (LTI) on 02 August 2020 and finishes the year strong with an all-time annual production record of 1,548,500 metric tonnes, the highest-ever achieved in 50 years of commercial operations.

Alba, also, takes great strides in empowering its national workforce with the launch of 'Al Jisr' Programme which aims to boost Bahrainisation through training and developing national employees to build their supervisory skills.

With the inauguration of Alba Fish Farm near the Calciner and Marine Plant (Sitra), Alba reinforces its commitment to enriching the ecological system around its operations.

2021

SETTING ALL-TIME SAFETY, PRODUCTION AND FINANCIAL RECORDS

2021 marked Alba’s golden jubilee of operations and best-ever recorded performance in 5 decades to include a breaking annual production record of 1,561,222 metric tonnes, an outstanding Safety milestone with more than 20 million safe-working hours without LTI, an all-time net profit of US$1.2 billion for full year of 2021 along with highest ever achieved annual EBITDA and EBITDA Margin of US$1.636 billion and 38.8% respectively.

2022

Alba’s best-ever recorded performance in +5 decades

2022 marked Alba’s best-ever recorded performance in +5 decades when it comes to  multiple fields to include achieving record-breaking annual production of 1,600,111 metric tonnes, an all-time Safety milestone of more than 30 million safe-working hours without LTI, and 679 employees’ promotions.

2023

ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER LEAP FORWARD

Beyond numbers, Alba celebrated another all-time production record and cemented its commitment to Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) fields with launching the Mangrove Nursery, upskilling 660+ employees through learning programmes, and the re-launch of the Company’s Code of Conduct.