KHOBAR: A phosphate joint venture between Saudi Arabia Mining Co (Ma'aden) and Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) will start production in the third quarter of 2011, Ma'aden said Wednesday. Ma'aden said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website that it had completed the infrastructure work for the project in Ras Az Zawr, on Saudi's Gulf coast and had started testing most units. Separately, the company announced the retirement of its chief executive. “The company rescheduled trial production whereby it will start in the second quarter of 2011 instead of the fourth quarter of 2010 with the completion of the infrastructure,” Ma'aden said. “It (the project) is expected to start commercial production in the third quarter of 2011,” Ma'aden added. When completed, the SR20.6 billion ($5.5 billion) project will produce 3 million tons per year (tpy) of diammonium phosphate (DAP), Ma'aden said. Ma'aden and SABIC are doubling capacity at a fertilizer plant to 6 million tpy. The project will use phosphate from Al-Jalamid and local gas and sulfur supplies to manufacture the fertilizer diammonium phosphate (DAP). The mine at Al-Jalamid has started production, Ma'aden said. “The project is expected to be completed within the estimated cost,” Ma'aden said. In a separate statement, Ma'aden said its board accepted the retirement of CEO Abdullah Al-Dabbagh at the end of 2010. Dabbagh will remain a board member. Khalid Al-Mudaifer, who is vice president for the phosphate unit and new business development and marketing will replace Dabbagh as CEO from Jan. 1, 2011, Ma'aden said. Ma'aden shares slumped the most in six months after it delayed production at its Ras Al-Zour phosphate plant to the second quarter of 2011 from the fourth quarter. The shares tumbled 9.7 percent, the most since May 25, to SR20.05 as of 11:33 A.M. in Riyadh. Commercial production will start in the third quarter and the delay will not entail additional costs, the company said. In ecological terms, because of its important role in biological systems, phosphate is a highly sought after resource. Once used, it is often a limiting nutrient in environments, and its availability may govern the rate of growth of organisms.
