RHEWUM Screens for MA´ADEN Project, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

10.11.2008, Saudi Arabia

N.N., RHEWUM GmbH

In May 2008 RHEWUM received an order for screens for the MA´ADEN fully integrated phosphate fertilizer production operation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which will be the world´s largest of this kind.

In May 2008, RHEWUM received an order for lump screens for the MA'ADEN fully integrated phosphate fertilizer production operation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which will be the world's largest of this kind. The screens will be part of the 4.5 million t/a (4,960,395 ST/year) phosphate rock beneficiation plant at the Al-Jalamid phosphate complex in the north of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The order was placed by the EPC contractor Litwin Europe Middle East, a part of the Bateman Litwin N.V. Group. The order covers three screening machines type RHEmoto® 195x269/1 and three feeders type RHEmid 1950, each screen with a capacity of 400 t/h (441 STPH) - which means a capacity of nearly 10,000 t/d (11,023 STPD). Delivery of the screens is scheduled for November and December 2008.

Extraction of Rock Phosphate: Phosphates are extracted from various minerals, e.g. apatite, Ca₅[(PO₄)₃(OH,F)], by crushing, classifying with screening machines and wet chemical processes. Large deposits are situated in northern Africa (Morocco, Western Sahara), Florida, Russia, South Africa, China and Saudi Arabia. The former natural rock phosphate deposits with the highest concentration were found on the island of Nauru in the Pacific Ocean (Nauruite, which emerged from guano). The deposits first mined were exhausted by 2003, but in 2004 new deposits were developed on the island of Nauru. Saudi Arabia is going to further the exploitation of its rock phosphate deposits in the coming years. Phosphate resources are limited and most of them are contaminated with cadmium and/or radioactive heavy metals. To date, some phosphate deposits have been used as a source for uranium. The cadmium content differs considerably from deposit to deposit. Many industrial nations have already set a limit value for the cadmium content in fertilizers. By now, the use of "Thomasmehl", a by-product of iron ore smelting processes, is also forbidden due to its high chromium contamination.

Today the Rock Phosphate deposits which are usable for fertilizer production are expected to be exhausted earlier than world wide oil fields!