CAIRO (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabia has deferred to the second
quarter of this year plans to start trial operations at a railway
designed to transport phosphate and bauxite ore, state-run Saudi
Press Agency, or SPA, reports Wednesday, citing a senior rail
official.
Saudi Railway Co., or SAR, has so far executed 1,213 kilometers
of the 1,486 kilometers railway, said Mansour Bin Saleh Al Maiman,
the firm's chairman, according to SPA.
Al Maiman gave no reason for the delay, from the end of
2010.
SAR has previously said the line, which will serve projects
developed by Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (1211.SA) with Saudi Basic
Industries Corp. (2010.SA) and U.S. aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. (AA),
is expected to be in operation by the end of 2010.
The planned railway will link the phosphate mine at Al Jalamid
and the bauxite mine at Az Zabirah to the processing facilities at
Ras Azzour, on the Gulf coast.
Maaden is doubling capacity at its Saudi fertilizer plant to 6
million metric tons a year. It will use phosphate from a deposit at
Al Jalamid and local gas and sulfur supplies to manufacture the
fertilizer diammonium phosphate, or DAP.
Maaden is also developing a fully integrated complex refinery
with Alcoa, which will be the world's lowest-cost supplier of
primary aluminum, alumina and aluminum products.
-By Summer Said, Dow Jones Newswires; +966-546-842-373;
summer.said@dowjones.com