Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Ma’aden) announced on Feb. 10 the completion of construction and pre-commissioning activities at its “Ammonia 3” plant at Ras Al-Khair Industrial City on Saudi Arabia’s East Coast, and the start of the trial production at the new 1.1 million mt/y capacity plant.
However, according to the company’s filing to Tadawul, Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange, Ma’aden said the financial impact will appear “after the completion of the trial production and start the commercial production, which is expected in the third quarter of 2022.”
Ma’aden previously had been targeting operations to begin in the first quarter of 2022 (GM Aug. 13, 2021; June 18, 2021).
The “Ammonia-3” plant is the first unit under construction as part of Ma’aden’s ambitious plans for a third large-scale phosphate complex, “Phosphate 3,” which, upon completion, will add a further 3 million mt/y of phosphate fertilizer production capacity to Ma’aden’s portfolio.
However, ammonia from Ammonia-3 has been expected to be sold initially on the market. In February last year, local media, citing Ma’aden, reported output from the new plant would add 1.1 million mt to the Saudi producer’s sales (GM Feb. 12, 2021).