The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) has awarded South Korea’s Daelim with a $892 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build the first plant in the company’s third large-scale phosphate complex (Phosphate 3). The complex will increase Ma’aden’s phosphate production capacity to 9 Mt, securing the Kingdom’s global position as a top phosphate producer and exporter. Ma’aden currently mines and beneficiates almost 12 Mt/y of phosphate rock through Ma’aden Phosphate Company (MPC) at Al Jalamid in northern Saudi Arabia, with the Eastern Province’s Ras Al Khair the location of the integrated chemical and fertiliser facilities.

Darren Davis, President and CEO of Ma’aden, and Heon Jae Yim, Daelim SEVP and CEO, signed the EPC contract at the Ma’aden headquarters in Riyadh to build a new ammonia plant in Ras Al-Khair on the Eastern coast of Saudi Arabia. “Today’s announcement is the next step in securing Ma’aden’s leadership position in the global phosphate fertiliser market,” Davis said. “With today’s award and the launch of Phosphate 3, we are building on our existing world-class phosphate business, ensuring that the phosphate resources of the Kingdom are developed efficiently, and delivering a meaningful contribution to the Saudi Vision 2030 goal of economic diversification for the Kingdom.”

“As a leader in global EPC, it is our pleasure to have another opportunity to work for Ma’aden,” said Heon Jae Yim. “With Ma’aden’s superb leadership and our accumulated expertise and know-how in project management, we recently successfully completed the ammonia plant for the Ma’aden Waad Al-Shamal Phosphate Company. We are very proud to once again serve Ma’aden and the Kingdom, and are committed to the success of this new project for Phosphate 3.”

Upon completion of Phosphate 3, Ma’aden will increase its capacity to supply phosphate fertiliser to global markets by 3 Mt per year, with total production capacity of nearly 9 Mt. This will make Saudi Arabia the world’s third largest producer of phosphate fertiliser and the second largest exporter.

Daelim Industrial and Saudi Daelim Ltd will jointly carry out the EPC for the construction of the 1.1 Mt per annum ammonia plant, which will be implemented over 38 months. This is the first of the Phosphate 3 plants to begin construction. The project is expected to cost $6.4 billion. The project will generate non-oil GDP growth of $6.7 billion and approximately 7,000 direct and indirect jobs.