Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) is set to complete the financing for its aluminium project at Ras al-Zour by early November, according to sources close to the deal.

The banking group for the project was put in place in mid-August and consists of 15 banks, of which only four are not based in Saudi Arabia. The deal is split between dollar and riyal loans. Pricing on the deal starts at 165 basis points above the Saudi interbank offered rate (Sibor) for the riyal loans, and 205 basis points above the London interbank offered rate (Libor) for the dollar loans.

One banker working on the deal says, “We are in the documentation stage and things are progressing. We should be able to close by November, if not earlier.”

Financing for the development of the project is split between $5bn for the development of an aluminium smelter, and a further $2.5bn for a rolling mill. Both are being financed separately, but will close in tandem. Banque Saudi Fransi has been appointed as documentation bank for the smelter financing, and National Commercial Bank has been appointed documentation bank for the aluminium rolling mill.

In total the project will cost around $10.8bn to develop and will include a bauxite mine with an initial capacity of 4 million tonnes a year (t/y); an alumina refinery with an initial capacity of 1.8 million t/y; an aluminium smelter with an initial capacity of 740,000 t/y for producing ingot, slab and billets; and a rolling mill, with initial hot-mill capacity of between 250,000 and 460,000 t/y.