A railway to transport phosphate and bauxite ore that would serve a project Saudi Arabian Mining Co is developing is expected to be in operation by the end of this year, state news agency SPA said on Saturday. The mineral line would link the phosphate mine at Al Jalamid and the bauxite mine at Az Zabirah to the processing facilities at Ras Azzour, on the Gulf coast. Rumaih Al Rumaih, deputy chief executive, Saudi Railyway Company, said: “So far, 800 kilometers of the 1486 km railway has been executed.” The state owned firm has signed a contract worth $74.13 million Indian government firm Rites to operate the railway, SPA said. The contract would last till the end of 2013, SPA added. Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden), in a joint venture with Saudi Basic Industries Corp, is doubling capacity at its Saudi fertiliser plant to 6 million tons per year. The project will use phosphate from a deposit at Al Jalamid and local gas and sulfur supplies to manufacture the fertiliser diammonium phosphate. Maaden is also building with US aluminum giant Alcoa a $10.8 billion aluminum complex at Ras Azzour which would start production in 2013. Maaden has said both the phosphate and aluminum projects rely on the development and operation of a port to export DAP and ammonia for the phosphate project and for the import of raw materials, and export of alumina and aluminum for the aluminum project. Maaden is considering expanding its phosphate mining activities at the Al-Khabra deposit near Turaif in the north of the Kingdom, Meed has reported. It plans an open cast mine and simple beneficiation process to separate minerals from waste at the site, and to add almost 1.5 million tons to the company's phosphate capacity.
