Algeria has entered into a $6 billion phosphate JV deal with a Chinese firm to build a phosphate plant in Tebessa province. The JV deal is between Algeria’s state-run firm Sonatrach, Algerian firms Manal and Asmidal and Chinese state-owned consortium CITIC Group Corp. “We are witnessing the biggest economic project that Algeria has seen in more than a decade,” Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia said at the signing ceremony in Ouglat-Ahmed. “The plant will come online in 2022, and it will create 3,000 jobs,” Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour, CEO of state energy firm Sonatrach, said. The project plans to expand the output of the Bled El-Hadba phosphate mine in the eastern region of Tebessa from 1 million tons annually to 10 million tons. Sonatrach will hold a 51% share of the project while the Chinese partners have a 49% stake. “The embedded project aims at greatly upgrading the valorization of the phosphate as a natural resource through the production of fertilizers, ammonia and several other by-products,” said Industry Minister Yousef Yousfi. He added that he expected a 4 million-ton output of fertilizer and a 1.2 million-ton output of ammonia per year. “If the project succeeds in controlling the costs and deadlines as well as quality, it will allow Algeria to have a genuine mining industry, which will be expanded gradually,” said Ould Kaddour, who is spearheading the project. Ouyahia said the government was eyeing similar projects to tap the country’s phosphate potential. It holds the third largest phosphate reserves in the world; neighboring Morocco is the world’s largest holder of the resource. Like Loading...
Tebessa has signed a $6bn joint venture deal with a Chinese consortium to expand a phosphate plant in the country's eastern Algeria province. The agreement between Tebessan state-run company Sonatrach, domestic firms Manal and Asmidal and Chinese state-owned CITIC Group is to expand output of the Bled El-Hadba mine from one million metric tonnes (mt) to 10 million mt a year, making it the largest economic project the country has seen in over a decade. Sonatrach will retain a 51% share in the project, which is scheduled to come online in 2022.