Saudi Arabia has completed two thirds of a planned railway to transport phosphate and bauxite ore needed for a $10.8 billion project by miner Maaden and US firm Alcoa, state news agency SPA said on Tuesday. The Gulf Arab state is building a railway linking a phosphate mine at al-Jalamid and bauxite mine at Az-Zabirah to processing facilities at the industrial hub Raz Azzour on the Gulf coast. So far, 1,050 kilometers of the 1,486-kilometer long line has been built, SPA said. Saudi Arabia said in March the railway would be completed by year-end. The state-owned railway firm has signed a contract worth SR278 million ($74.13 million) with Indian government firm Rites to operate the railway. Maaden, in a joint venture with Saudi Basic Industries Corp, is doubling capacity at its Saudi fertilizer 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 fertilizer diammonium phosphate (DAP). 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.
