Saudi Arabia's Cabinet approved in its weekly meeting on
Monday the establishment of a new industrial city in the country's north — Waad
Al-Shimal City for Mining Industries in which the new project in Umm Wual would
be located.
Maaden said recently the preliminary feasibility study to
exploit phosphate deposits at Umm Wual proved viable.
The Umm Wual project would add nearly 1.5 million tons
annually of phosphorus oxide to Maaden's planned phosphate capacity.
Khalid Al-Mudaifer said the SR21 billion will cover the
cost of extracting and treating the phosphate ore. It would also fund the building
of seven new plants with a total production capacity of 16 million tons per
year of phosphate concentrate, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, as well as
plants to produce calcium monophosphate and calcium diphosphate. Production is
expected to start before the end of 2016, Mudaifer said.
Saudi Arabia, home to the world's largest oil reserves,
is keen to develop its mining industry to diversify the economy away from
relying on oil.
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi
was quoted as saying on state news agency SPA that the project would add SR15
billion in annual revenues to the gross domestic product (GDP), Al-Naimi
said.
The phosphate ore is located near a gas field in Jalamid
where extensive exploration is taking place. Feedstock and other fuel has been
allocated to the Maaden's project, SPA quoted Prince Faisal bin Turki, adviser
at the Saudi Oil Ministry, as saying, without specifying how much fuel or feedstock
the project will use.
