Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) has awarded a SR3.4-billion ($892 million) contract to South Korea’s construction giant Daelim Industrial Company to build the first plant in the company’s third large-scale phosphate complex (Phosphate 3) in the kingdom.

This is the first of the Phosphate 3 plants to begin construction. The entire project is expected to cost SR24 billion ($6.4 billion), said the statement from Ma’aden.

The project will generate non-oil GDP growth of SR25 billion ($6.7 billion) and approximately 7,000 direct and indirect jobs, it added.

As per the deal, Daelim Industrial Company and Saudi Daelim Limited will jointly carry out the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the development of the 1.1-million tonne per annum ammonia plant in Ras Al Khair area on the Eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, said a statement from Saudi Ma’aden.

The project will be implemented over the next 38 months, it stated.

The move is aimed at boosting Ma’aden’s phosphate production capacity to 9 million tonnes, thus securing the kingdom’s global position as a top phosphate producer and exporter, remarked Ma’aden President and CEO Darren Davis after signing the agreement with Daelim Senior Executive VP and CEO Heon Jae Yim at the Ma’aden headquarters in Riyadh.

“With today’s award and the launch of Phosphate 3, we are building on our existing world-class phosphate business, ensuring that the phosphate resources of the Kingdom are developed efficiently, and delivering a meaningful contribution to the Saudi Vision 2030 goal of economic diversification for the kingdom,” he added.

Heon Jae Yim said: “As a leader in global EPC, it is our pleasure to have another opportunity to work for Ma’aden. With Ma’aden’s superb leadership and our accumulated expertise and know-how in project management, we recently successfully completed the ammonia plant for the Ma’aden Waad Al Shamal Phosphate Company.”

This will make Saudi Arabia the world’s third largest producer of phosphate fertilizer and the second largest exporter, he added.