SAUDI Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has awarded three contracts worth a combined SR8.46 billion ($2.26 billion) to Canadian and Asian companies concerning its new phosphate mining and production project, according to Reuters.

The project in Waad Al Shimal City in the north of the country is a joint venture between Maaden, Saudi Basic Industries Corp and Mosaic.

Canada’s SNC Lavalin and China’s Sinopec Engineering Group have won a SR2.86 billion deal to build a power plant and a sulphuric acid plant which has a production capacity of 4.9 million tonnes, Maaden 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 SR2.08 billion with a production capacity of 5.3 million tonnes.

The projects are due to be completed in 2016, Maaden said. Maaden aims to close fundraising for its $7 billion phosphate project before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Maaden has commitments from banks for financing worth up to SR15.75 billion ($4.2 billion) for a $7 billion phosphate project in Saudi Arabia.

The project in the northern city of Waad al-Shimal is a joint venture between Ma’aden, Saudi Basic Industries Corp and Mosaic and is part of Saudi state efforts to create a stronger industrial base beyond oil refining and export.

The rest of the funding should come from two Saudi government funds - the Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) - as well as some export credit agencies (ECA).

The 17-year loan with commercial banks and financial institutions will be repaid in half-yearly installments from December 31 2018, Maaden said in a bourse filing. It gave no details in the statement of the banks involved in the financing and said it expects to receive the remaining financing commitments by the end of this month (January).

It will sign along with its partners and the project financial adviser the final financing agreements in the second quarter of 2014.

The scheme will have a production capacity of 16 million tonnes per year of phosphate concentrate, sulphuric acid and phosphoric acid as well as plants to produce calcium monophosphate and calcium diphosphate, Maaden said previously, with phosphate production expected to start in late 2016.