MA’ADEN, the Saudi Arabian Mining Company, has completed utilities commissioning on a US$900 million ammonia plant in Ras Al-Khair industrial City. Construction completion is expected in 4Q21, with full activation in 1Q22. The ammonia plant is the first project in the US$6.4 billion ‘Phosphate 3’ expansion to Ma’aden’s phosphate fertilizer portfolio, which encompasses the full mine-to-market development process of phosphate fertilizers. The ‘Phosphate 3’ expansion will add 3 million t of phosphate fertilizer production capacity to Ma’aden’s portfolio, bringing that to a total production capacity of more than 9 million t. This will make Ma’aden one of the top three global phosphate fertilizer producers and Saudi Arabia the second largest phosphate fertilizer exporter worldwide. Ma’aden’s mine-to-market phosphate business consists of three mega projects in Saudi Arabia: Wa’ad Al Shamal – the centre of the Saudi phosphate industry; Ras Al Khair, a phosphate and bauxite processing superhub; and Phosphate 3.
MINBOS RESOURCES, the Australia-based company, has lodged an Australian provisional patent application for a new phosphate rock fertilizer blend, with the potential to produce a 100% organic phosphate fertilizer using less reactive phosphate rocks. New patent application has been filed to cover the new phosphate rock fertilizer blend following analysis of results comparing different product forms of the Cabinda Phosphate Granules in field trials in Angola and greenhouse trials at the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) in the US, and a survey of literature. According to Minbos, the new phosphate rock fertilizer blend promotes the early release of phosphate nutrients from phosphate rock, potentially eliminating monoammonium phosphate (MAP) from the proposed Cabinda Phosphate granule formulation – delivering a 100% organic fertilizer blend. Production of the new phosphate rock fertilizer blend can potentially be applied to the proposed Minbos Granulation Plant and be incorporated in the production profile from commissioning in 2022.
NUTRIEN, the world’s largest provider of crop inputs, services and solutions, has announced that it is the first company in the fertiliser industry to implement the Cat® Command for Dozing remote-control system at its Aurora, North Carolina, US phosphate mine to create a safer working environment and improve reliability. This innovative technology allows workers to operate bulldozers safely from a few thousand feet away in an indoor control station, thereby physically removing them from potential risks. Nutrien’s Aurora facility is the largest mining site to implement this non-line of sight remote-control system for D8 bulldozers. In addition to keeping operators safe by getting them out of the dozers’ cabs, the system includes sophisticated software that monitors the grade of the terrain ahead and identifies avoidance zones. Further, the system offers improved visibility with cameras that provide a 180-degree front, back and bird’s-eye view of the ground level conditions, along with lighting that reveals a greater field of vision for improved day and nighttime operation.
