Riyadh—Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Ma’aden) said subsidiary Maaden Wa’ad Al-Shamal Phosphate Co. (MWSPC) has completed the construction of its 1.1 million mt/y ammonia plant at Ras Al-Khair on the Kingdom’s Arabian Gulf Coast, and trial operations have started. Long-term offtake deals are believed to have been struck with two Indian buyers earlier this summer for some of the planned merchant volumes. The ammonia plant is the first of the new production facilities to come onstream as part of MWSPC’s ambitious project, which includes new phosphate mining and downstream production plants, including those for dicalcium and monocalcium phosphate and purified phosphoric acid, in the Umm Wu’al area of northern Saudi Arabia, and a 2.2 million mt/y DAP plant at Ras Al-Khair. Ma’aden owns 60 percent of MWSPC, with Mosaic and Sabic owning 25 percent and 15 percent stakes, respectively.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain