Guizhou Hongfu Industry and Commerce Co., Ltd. has won the bid
for a Saudi Arabia beneficiation project, the company announced on
Thursday.
The Chinese phosphorus chemical giant successfully tendered to
construct a concentrator capable of processing 12.5 million tons of
ore to form an annual phosphorus concentrate production capacity of
5.3 million tons. The 350 million U.S. dollar contract has a
construction period of 28 months.
After the project's completion, the phosphate concentrate would
be sent to an Arab Gulf industrial base via rail for the production
of 1.5 million tons of phosphoric acid annually. It would then be
used to product diammonium phosphate (DAP).
The project is part of a 5 billion U.S. dollar phosphorus
project invested by Saudi Arabia mining company Ma'aden. It is the
world's largest in terms of one-time investment.
Guizhou Hongfu is the only Chinese company involved in the
project. Hongfu and Ma'aden will sign a formal contract on December
9 in the Saudi capital Riyadh, according to Hongfu Chairman He
Haoming.
"The project marks the entry of China's phosphate fertilizer
industry into a phase of technology export," He said.
Hongfu is a large state-owned enterprise involved in phosphorus
mining, phosphate and compound fertilizer production.
Known as the world's largest oil producer, Saudi Arabia's
phosphate reserves were estimated at 3 billion tons. After the
completion of first phase of the Ma'aden project in 2011, the
annual DAP production capacity was expected to reach 3 million
tons.
At present, China is the world's largest producer of and market
for phosphate fertilizer. This year, the country was expected to
consume 6 million tons of DAP. Total global sales of DAP was
forecast to hit about 20 million tons.
(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2007)
