Oman’s Zawawi Minerals has formed a partnership with Chicago, US-based USG Corporation to develop a gypsum mine and processing operations in the south of the sultanate.

USG expects to invest $60m over the next two years to establish a gypsum quarry and a plasterboard manufacturing plant in Salalah Free Zone in Dhofar province.

The plant is designed with the capacity to produce 8 million square metres of gypsum board a year and 200,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of plaster of paris.

Legal adviser for the joint venture, SNR Denton, said the plant is being developed to meet the growing demand for USG’s building products in the Middle East and Africa.