Saudi Arabian Mining Co. Ltd. (Ma’aden), Riyadh, has signed an engineering, procurement, and construction management services contract with WorleyParsons Arabia Ltd. and JESA International SA for the construction of its long-mooted Phosphate 3 phase 1 project, which will produce 1.5 million mt/y of phosphate fertilizer.
Ma’aden, in its announcement on Jan. 11, put the value of the contract at SAR1.043 billion (approximately $277.7 million at current exchange rates).
Under the contract, an integrated production complex will be built at Wa’ad Al Shamal in the north of Saudi Arabia and at Ras Al-Khair on the Kingdom’s East Coast. The contract’s duration is 42 months.
Ma’aden is targeting a production capacity of some 3 million mt/y of phosphate fertilizer capacity under the Phosphate 3 project. The first plant in the project, a 1.1 million mt/y capacity ammonia plant – the so-called “Ammonia-3” facility – located at Ras Al-Khair Industrial City facility, started “official” commercial production last August (GM Nov. 4, 2022), although the first shipments from the new plant were made in June (GM June 10, 2022).
For the time being, the ammonia output is being used to cover existing sales contracts and merchant sales.
Meanwhile, Ma’aden also announced on Jan. 11 that it would partner with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) to jointly establish a new company to invest in mining assets internationally to secure strategic minerals.
The new joint venture company’s strategy initially will be to invest in the iron ore, copper, nickel, and lithium sectors as a non-operating partner taking minority equity positions, Ma’aden said in its filing to Saudi’s Tadawul.
Ma’aden will hold a 51% stake in the new company and PIF will hold a 49% interest. The new company’s initial paid-up capital will amount to SAR187.5 million (approximately $50 million at current exchange rates), with Ma’aden financing its share of this investment, totalling SAR95.63 million, from its own resources,
“This will provide physical offtake of critical minerals to ensure supply security for domestic minerals downstream sectors and positioning Saudi Arabia as a key partner in global supply-chain resilience,” said Ma’aden.
PIF is the largest shareholder in Ma’aden, with a 67.18% stakeholding.