Infrastructure to facilitate Saudi Arabia’s ambitious phosphate and aluminium ventures is making progress.

In January the mining company Ma’aden signed a $100 million contract with ABB Contracting Co Ltd for two electrical substations that will connect its phosphate and aluminium mega-projects at Ras Az Zawr to the national grid.
Maaden president and CEO Dr Abdallah Dabbagh commented that the signing marked the first major milestone for Ma’aden’s infrastructure works at Ras Az Zawr. “The high capacity and quality of infrastructure there will be critical to the efficiency of our phosphate and aluminium operations. We welcome ABB as our partner in delivering such important facilities to Ma’aden,” he added. 
ABB Contracting Company chairman Abdullah Ibrahim Al Hobaib said the project was a prestigious one and ABB looked forward to a long and successful business relationship with Ma’aden. 
The contract is for the engineering, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning and completion of 380 kV and 115 kV gas insulated switchgear (GIS) substations at Ras Az Zawr and certain related works on a turnkey basis.
Ma’aden is creating a separate wholly owned subsidiary to develop infrastructure and services at Ras Az Zawr in order to support co-located phosphate and aluminium facilities. Site preparation, access and internal road construction is already underway as well as planning for traffic management, security and emergency response on the 77 sq km site.
The substations will initially provide power for the commissioning and start-up of the phosphate operation and will subsequently be used for the import, or export, of approximately 600 to 1,100 MW of power from both the phosphate and aluminium projects at Ras Az Zawr.
The substations will connect the aluminium and phosphate projects to the national power grid via overhead transmission lines from Jubail.
 Ma’aden was established as a Saudi Arabian joint stock company in March 1997 and is owned 100 per cent by the Government. Its purpose is to facilitate the development of the kingdom’s non-petroleum mineral resources and to diversify its economy away from the petroleum and petrochemical sectors.