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 in brief

• Qatalum is an equal joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Hydro, with the ability to produce 585,000 tons of high-quality primary aluminium products per annum from twin 1.2 kilometer potlines.
  
  
• Qatalum’s complex facilities include a carbon plant, port and storage facilities, as well as a captive power plant. The state-of-the-art casthouse produces value-added products such as extrusion ingots and foundry alloys that meet the stringent quality standards of Qatalum’s global customer base.