The Gulf 's aluminium industry must expand and diversify into production of finished goods to get the maximum benefit out of the metal, a conference in Bahrain was told.

Addressing the international conference on Advances in Production and Processing of Aluminium (APPA 2001), at the Holiday Inn's Bahrain Conference Centre, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) deputy director-general Dr Yo Maruno said: "With only a third of the region's aluminium currently being processed into manufactured products, the challenge is formidable."

He stated that in order for the industry to grow and flourish, key inputs were required. Among these are the selection of appropriate technologies, introduction of optimal industrial practices and methods, economic and technical solutions to production glitches and a forecast for the industry in the region.

Dr Yo Maruno said Unido could provide help in technology, quality control, networking, cleaner production processes and capacity building for the 'millennium metal'.

Six keynote papers and 55 research papers were presented at the conference. Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) was the main sponsor of the event. A total of 16 companies participated in the exhibition which was held concurrently with the conference.

Meanwhile, Mechatherm International of the UK said it won an order from the Bahrain-based Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill Company (Garmco) to upgrade an existing furnace. "We will be modifying an existing furnace in a bid to help Garmco to recycle aluminium swarfs and chips more effectively and efficiently," Laith Al Hindawi, international sales manager for Mechatherm, told GCM during APPA 2001.

Mechatherm will be installing a sidewell with an electromagnetic pump system supplied by the UK-based EMP Technologies. The swarf will be fed directly into the sidewell crucible. The modification will vastly increase the metal yield from the swarf, thereby reducing waste. It will enable Garmco to operate the furnace more efficiently in terms of energy consumption and, in effect, increase productivity using the latest recycling technique.

Mechatherm will start modification work on the furnace by April and the system is expected to be fully operational by summer.

Mechatherm is a supplier of capital plant for the aluminium industry. Its clients include Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), Garmco, Bahrain Aluminium Extrusion Company (Balexco), Aluwheel and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal).

It just concluded a highly successful 1999/2000, having being involved on Dubal's Condor project with turnkey supply of a vertical casting station and two horizontal casting stations complete with a cooling system, latest programmable logic controller (PLC) and online management system.

Jim Rees, sales manager of EMP Technologies, commenting about the pumping system that will be supplied for the Garmco furnace, said: "The pump will have a capacity of 10 tonnes per minute of molten metal. Its main advantage is that it will help improve the melting rate, typically by about 25 per cent. As the electromagnetic pump system has no moving parts, it is virtually maintenance-free."