Maaden awards SR8.46bn of work on phosphate project

ALKHOBAR: Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has awarded three contracts worth a combined SR8.46 billion ($2.26 billion) to Canadian and Asian companies concerning its new phosphate mining and production project, it said on Monday.
The project in Waad Al-Shimal City in the north of the country is a joint venture between Maaden, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and Mosaic.
Canada’s SNC Lavalin and China’s Sinopec Engineering Group have won a SR2.86 billion deal to build a power plant and a sulfuric acid plant which has a production capacity of 4.9 million tons, Maaden said in a bourse filing.
South Korea’s Hanwha Engineering & Construction Co. won a contract to build a phosphoric acid plant worth SR3.5 billion. The plant will have a production capacity of 1.5 million tons.
China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corp Co. won a contract to build an ore beneficiation plant worth SR2.08 billion with a production capacity of 5.3 million tons.
The projects are due to be completed in 2016, Maaden said.
Maaden aims to close fundraising for its $7 billion phosphate project before the end of the year, a timetable reiterated in Monday’s statement.