Saudi Arabian Mining Company’s (Maaden) has awarded Spain’s Intecsa Industrial the contract for the major fertilisers package at its proposed $7bn phosphates mining city.

The package, which will be built at Waad al-Shamal in the north of the kingdom, includes process plants that will produce diammonium phosphate (DAP) and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) fertilisers.

MEED reported in October that Dragados was the frontrunner for the scheme and this has now been confirmed by Maaden. The contract is worth $600m and the work will be carried out by the Dragados subsidiary.

“[Intecsa] was the frontrunner so it is not a surprise to the other bidders that is has won,” says a contracting source based in Saudi Arabia.

The mining city is being built so Maaden can fully utilise the phosphates from its Al-Khabra mine. The scope of works for the city will include a mining component, as well as eight different processing plants and a utilities and offsites package.

The phosphate produced at Al-Khabra is low in heavy metal content and is ideal for use in food production, as well as fertiliser and animal feed. The measured reserves of the Al-Khabra deposit are estimated to be 236 million tonnes.

In March, Maaden announced it was joining forces with the US’ Mosaic and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) to build the phosphates city. Maaden will retain a 60 per cent stake, with Mosaic and Sabic taking a 25 per cent and 15 per cent stake respectively.