DUBAI, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expected to start aluminum refining during the first half of 2019, state news agency WAM reported on Sunday.

The Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the largest non-oil industrial company in the UAE, received on Sunday the first shipment of 61,450 tons of bauxite ore from the West African Republic of Guinea, which will be used to produce aluminum in the Al Taweelah aluminum refinery, which is currently under construction.

Guinea will provide 5 million tons of bauxite every year to the UAE, once the aluminum refinery in the UAE is in full operation, according to the report.

The UAE currently imports all its aluminum.

"Alumina refining will be a new industrial activity for the UAE, so this shipment of bauxite is the first ever to our country," said Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EGA.

More than 13,000 people are currently building the aluminum refinery, one of the largest industrial construction sites in the UAE that costs 3.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Earlier this month, EGA completed construction of a shed to stockpile bauxite. The shed has a capacity to store 450,000 tons of bauxite.

Once completed, the Al Taweelah refinery is expected to produce some 2 million tons of aluminum per year.