Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma'aden) expects to start producing bauxite from a new mine in the second quarter of 2014, a company executive said.

Ma'aden and US partner Alcoa are developing a mine with the capacity to produce 4 million tonnes per year of raw material for their new aluminium complex in Saudi Arabia.

"We are going to get first bauxite from the mine in the second quarter of 2014," Khalid Abdullah Al-luhaidan, a senior Ma'aden aluminium executive, told a conference in Abu Dhabi.

The bauxite will be transported by rail from the Al Ba'itha mine in north-eastern Saudi Arabia to the $10.8 billion complex at Ras Al Khair on the Gulf coast.

One of the two potlines at the new smelter shut due to problems during a ramp up in production in mid October . A potline is a series of containers used to smelt aluminium.

"We are currently making a huge effort to bring it back," Luhaidan said. "We hope to bring it back in the first quarter of 2014."

The rolling mill at the complex should also start producing sheet aluminium in the first half of next year, he added. - Reuters