Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) said it has completed utilities commissioning on a $900-million ammonia plant set up in Ras Al Khair Industrial City.

The ammonia plant is the first project in the $6.4-billion ‘Phosphate 3’ expansion scheme to Ma’aden’s phosphate fertiliser portfolio, which encompasses the full mine-to-market development process of phosphate fertilisers, said Maaden. It will add three million tonnes of phosphate fertiliser production capacity to Ma’aden portfolio, thus bringing its total production capacity to more than nine million tonnes.

This will make Ma’aden one of the top three global phosphate fertiliser producers and Saudi Arabia the second largest phosphate fertiliser exporter worldwide, it added.

Ma’aden CEO Abdulaziz Al Harbi said: “This is a tremendous milestone for our phosphate portfolio. The ammonia plant expansion will add over one million tonnes ammonia production to reach 3.3 million tonnes, making Ma’aden one of the largest ammonia producers east of the Suez Canal. We have been moving ahead with the construction during the Covid-19 pandemic and thanks to the dedication of the Ma’aden team and our partners, construction has been completed for the utility section and pre-commissioning activities started.”

“Safety has remained a priority for us throughout the project and I am pleased to say that over 4,000 employees invested 14 million+ safe man hours to deliver the construction on the Ammonia 3 project over 32 months,” he stated.