KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) — Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) has awarded three contracts worth $2.26 billion to Canadian and Asian companies concerning its new phosphate mining and production project.


Canada’s SNC Lavalin and China’s Sinopec Engineering Group have won a deal to build a power plant and a sulfuric acid plant, which has a production capacity of 4.9 million tonnes. The projects are due to be completed in 2016. Ma’aden aims to close fundraising for its $7 billion phosphate project before the end of the year.