Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and the US’ Alcoa have reached financial close on a $3.6bn deal to finance the second phase of their aluminium development in the kingdom.

The financing was closed on 16 October and will be used for the development of a bauxite mine and alumina refinery to form an integrated aluminium production facility with phase one of the scheme to include an aluminium smelter and rolling mill.

The local Riyadh Bank and the UK’s Standard Chartered acted as financial advisers on the deal, which was split between a $1bn commercial bank tranche, a $1bn loan from the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and a $160m loan from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF). The rest of the funding will be equity contributions from the sponsors.

In total, phase one and two of the aluminium scheme will cost about $10.8bn to develop.