JEDDAH, 20 May 2007 — Saudi Arabia’s Western Way for Industrial Development Co. (WWIDC) yesterday signed three different agreements with American company, Gerald Metals Inc. (Gerald) and their affiliates, the company said in a statement.
With these agreements, Gerald becomes one of the substantial investors in WWIDC’s aluminum complex to be built in Jizan Economic City (JEC). The signing of these agreements follows the deals signed in April with two Chinese state-owned companies — China National Machinery Industry Corp., also known as Sinomach, and China Nonferrous Metals Industries Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. (NFC).
The deals were signed by WWIDC Chairman Abdullah Basodan and Gerald’s Executive Vice President Thomas Zabrodsky at Bahrain’s World Aluminum Conference
The first agreement is for Gerald to provide high-grade tropical bauxite to the alumina refinery. Under the deal, Gerald will be providing bauxite to the project along with JEC aluminum plant’s main supplier, which will export bauxite from Greece. This agreement ensures that all bauxite requirements will be satisfied.
The second agreement stipulates that Gerald will buyout all the aluminum produced at option with a floor volume of 300,000 tons per year.
The third agreement provides Gerald a provision of 20 percent of the equity funding requirement to the project, whose capital cost is estimated at $ 4 billion.
Gerald said the Jizan project and its future expansions are just the beginning of the replacement revolution in commodities, where low-cost and environmentally responsible production fulfill the continuing demand for commodities and boost world growth.
The new Jizan zone has been promulgated by the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and is being jointly developed by MMC Corporation Berhad of Malaysia and the Saudi Binladin Group (SBG).
JEC will cover over 100 million square meters of land and include a seaport, an industrial zone, a commercial business district, residential areas, public amenities such as hospitals and schools, as well as other academic and vocational training institutions.
The project is the 4th Economic City to be launched in the Kingdom and is expected to attract over $30 billion in investments.
