1. BEHRE DOLBEAR TECHNICAL ADVISOR TO THE MA'ADEN PHOSPHATE PROJECT
The Ma'aden Phosphate Company’s (MPC) phosphate project in Saudi Arabia operation is one of the
world’s largest fully integrated phosphate fertilizer producers, and cost approximately $5.5 billion to
develop. Behre Dolbear has been the Technical Advisor since 2006 for a consortium of banks that are the
lenders to the project. Behre Dolbear initially conducted a detailed technical analysis of the project for the
lenders before the loan agreements were consummated. When construction began, Behre Dolbear was
responsible for monitoring the project for the lenders, including the construction progress and capital
budget, and for certifying the completion and sustainable production tests required in the loan agreements.
Behre Dolbear will continue to be responsible for monitoring the project for the lenders throughout the
life of the loans which have a term of 14 years.
Behre Dolbear was also responsible to the lenders for monitoring the construction progress of the railway
that transports phosphate concentrate from the mine to the industrial site where the concentrate is
converted into fertilizer, and the port located at the Ras Al Khair industrial site that exports the fertilizer
products. The Railway is operated by the Saudi Arabian Railway, and the port is operated by the Saudi
Ministry of Transport’s Sea Ports Authority (SEAPA). The three combined projects cost over $10 billion.
The phosphate project included the development of a phosphate mine, a beneficiation plant, and ancillary
facilities at Al Jalamid in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The surface mine produces approximately 12
million tonnes per year of mine ore, and 12 million tonnes per year of waste, using blast-hole drills,
hydraulic shovels, trucks, and ancillary equipment. The ore will be delivered to a beneficiation plant
being constructed adjacent to the mine. The beneficiation plant will process the ore and produce a
phosphate concentrate, which is one of the feed-stocks used to produce phosphate based fertilizer. The
major ancillary facilities at Al Jalamid include a gas turbine powered generating plant that supplies all of
the power to operate the Al Jalamid operations, a well field that supplies process and potable water to the
operations, offices, warehouse, maintenance shops, and a village thet houses about 300 employees.
The phosphate concentrate is transported approximately 1,500 kilometers (km) by unit trains from the Al
Jalamid beneficiation plant on the North-South Railway (NSR) to Saudi Arabia’s east coast where MPC
has constructed a chemical complex at the Ras Al Khair industrial site on the Arabian Gulf.
The MPC’s Ras Az Zawr chemical complex includes four major chemical plants to convert the phosphate
concentrate to a fertilizer product, diammonium phosphate (DAP), and their ancillary facilities. The four
chemical plants include:
 a sulfuric acid plant that produces sulfuric acid from raw sulfur supplied by Aramco;
 a phosphoric acid plant that produces phosphoric acid from the phosphate concentrates in a
process that utilizes the sulfuric acid;
 an ammonia plant that produces ammonia from natural gas supplied by Aramco for the
production fertilizer, and for export; and
 a DAP fertilizer plant that produces diammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizer utilizing the
phosphoric acid and ammonia.
The major ancillary facilities also include a cogeneration power plant and desalination plant that utilizes
excess steam from the sulfuric acid and ammonia plants, a sea water intake and outfall system that
supplies sea water for cooling, processing, and potable water, as well as a natural gas line from Aramco, a
power transmission line to tie the cogeneration plant to the Saudi Arabian electrical grid, offices,
warehouse, maintenance shops, and villages to house approximately 1800 employees.
MPC has over 2,000 employees, and it will export 2.9 million tonnes of DAP per year and ammonia
production in excess of the DAP requirements, though the port facility.