Ma’aden and Al Sahara affiliate “SAMAPCO” exports its first shipment of products

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) and Sahara Petrochemical Company (Sahara) announced that their affiliate SAMAPCO has completed exportation of its first sea shipment of ethylene dichloride and caustic soda.

The shipment consisted of 10,000 metric tons of ethylene dichloride and 5,000 metric tons of caustic soda and left King Fahad Industrial Port at Jubail.

SAMAPCO is a joint venture project between Ma’aden (50%) and Sahara (50%). The SAMAPCO plant will annually produce 300 thousand metric tons of ethylene dichloride and 250 thousand metric tons of caustic soda.

SABIC will be the prime marketer for ethylene dichloride and caustic soda. However, future caustic soda production from this joint venture shall be used in Ma’aden alumina refinery at Ras Al Khair, which will commence production in 2014.

Caustic soda is the raw material used for refining bauxite and it is the key component to produce alumina. Ethylene dichloride is a co-product of caustic soda and is used in vinyl chloride, a key component within plastic industries.

SAMAPCO CEO Engr. Saeed Ba Yunis said that trial operations have been executed successfully by SAMAPCO and added that an increase in production will be executed gradually, as per the required safety standard. As well, he asserted that the products are of the highest quality and produced in compliance with global standards and requirements. Ba Yunis said that the exportation of this first shipment demonstrates that SAMAPCO is delivering on its strategy, while remaining focused on future performance.