Ma´aden awards $2.25 bln of work on phosphate project

Dec 23 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) has awarded three contracts worth a combined 8.46 billion riyals ($2.26 billion) to Canadian and Asian companies concerning its new phosphate mining and production project, it said on Monday. The project in Waad al-Shimal City in the north of the country is a joint venture between Ma'aden, Saudi Basic Industries Corp and Mosaic. Canada's SNC Lavalin and China's Sinopec Engineering Group have won a 2.86 billion-riyal deal to build a power plant and a sulphuric acid plant which has a production capacity of 4.9 million tonnes, Ma'aden said in a bourse filing. South Korea's Hanwha Engineering & Construction Co won a contract to build a phosphoric acid plant worth 3.5 billion riyals. The plant will have a production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes. China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corp Co won a contract to build an ore beneficiation plant worth 2.08 billion riyals with a production capacity of 5.3 million tonnes. The projects are due to be completed in 2016, Ma'aden said. Ma'aden aims to close fundraising for its $7 billion phosphate project before the end of the year, a timetable reiterated in Monday's statement.