Phosphate JV boosts Maaden

RIYADH: Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Maaden) said its third-quarter net profit more than trebled on the back of contract receipts from a phosphate joint venture, which helped offset declines in its gold and other fertilizer businesses.
The firm made a net profit of SR1.43 billion ($381 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, up from SR311 million in the same period of 2012, it said.
Maaden attributed the rise in net profit to “the receipt of contractual dues from joint venture partners ... in the amount of SR1.44 billion” relating to its Waad aAl-Shamal phosphate project.
That project, being developed with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. and Mosaic Co. and estimated to be worth around SR26 billion, will also include an ammonia plant, and a train line from its remote location in northern Saudi Arabia to the industrial facilities on its Gulf coast.
Without the one-off gain, gross profit for the quarter fell 45 percent to SR396 million and its operating profit was down 80 percent at SR98 million.
Maaden said the one-off boost helped offset a decline in gold prices, as well as a fall in prices and production of both diammonium phosphate (DAP) and ammonia fertilizer.
It is the second successive quarter that the company’s profitability has suffered from lower gold prices, while a shutdown of an ammonia plant hit second-quarter earnings.