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REGIONAL NEWS - ASIA tion to the socio-economic development of the Kingdom." The joint venture partners are developing plans for a local research and development facility that will encourage the study and development of phosphate products and processes. The partners also will sponsor school programs to help raise the academic and scientific capabilities of students in selected regional schools in northern Saudi Arabia. The partnership will bring a significant amount of the world's best expertise to Wa'ad Al Shammal. Ma'aden brings broad experience in the mining sector and more than a century of experience in the fertilizer industry. Mosaic is currently the world's largest producer of phosphate fertilizers, with extensive technical and operating experience, as well as best in class environmental and safety management systems. SABIC is ranked second among the world's diversified chemicals companies and brings broad experience in large project execution and global marketing capability. "Our joint venture with Ma'aden holds great promise for Mosaic, and it will be an excellent complement to our phosphate business in Florida and Louisiana," said Mosaic President and CEO Jim Prokopanko. "This cost-effective phosphate project enables Mosaic to further diversify our sources of phosphates and gives us improved access to key agricultural markets. Our growing global reach further enables us to fulfill Mosaic's mission to help the world grow the food it needs, while delivering compelling shareholder value." Ma'aden Building New Gravity-CIL Gold Plant: In other news, Ma'aden Gold & Base Metals Co. has signed a contract worth SR1.018 billion (about $271 million) with Hanwha Engineering and Construction of Korea to construct a gravity-CIL gold processing plant at its Ad Duwayhi gold project currently under development in Saudi Arabia. The project is located in a remote desert area approximately 450 km southwest of Riyadh and 450 km east-northeast of Jeddah. The contract includes detailed engineering, procurement, construction, pre-commissioning, commissioning, start-up assistance and training services. The Ad Duwayhi gold project is a key part of Ma'aden's program to develop several new gold mine facilities in the centralwestern region of Saudi Arabia, which con34 E&MJ; • APRIL 2013 tains many of the Kingdom's gold deposits. The plant will process approximately 2 million mt/y of ore from an adjacent open-pit mine and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2014. The project will produce about 180,000 oz/y of gold and more than 1.6 million oz of gold over the life of the mine. Al-Mudaifer said, "The signing of this contract represents an important early milestone in our program to expand development of Saudi Arabia's gold ore deposits, and this project will make a substantial contribution to Ma'aden's overall gold production capacity." Sumitomo Building Scandium Recovery Plant at Coral Bay Sumitomo Metal Mining is building a scandium recovery pilot plant at Coral Bay Nickel Corp., its majority-owned subsidiary located on Palawan Island in the Philippines. Small quantities of the rare earth element scandium are contained in the ore processed at Coral Bay to produce a nickel-cobalt mixed sulphide product, using Sumitomo's high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) technology. The nickel-cobalt mixed sulphide product is an intermediate product in the nickel refining process. Sumitomo developed technology, enabling recovery of scandium from the Coral Bay ore at its Niihama Research Laboratories in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Plans call for a scandium oxide pilot plant to be constructed at Coral Bay by the end of 2013 and for trial production to get underway at a level of 10 kg/month in 2014. Based on the results of test operation of the pilot plant, the company will aim for construction of a scandium oxide production line of commercial scale and launch of related business activity in 2015. Scandium is silvery-white metal with a density of 2.99. It is used in a variety of applications, including as an additive to enhance the strength, heat resistance and corrosion resistance of aluminum; as an electrolyte used in solid oxide fuel cells; and as an electrode used in metal halide lamps and alkaline batteries. Currently, global production is estimated at 10 mt/y. The major producers are in the United States, Ukraine, Russia and China. Owing to its modest volume of production and high cost, demand for scandium to date has been limited, but as supplies stabilize, growth is expected to increase in its main applications. NSL Confirms New JV to Expand Iron Operations NSL Consolidated has signed a US$12.2 million joint venture with a prominent Andhra Pradesh-based company in a bid to expand its iron ore operations in the Indian state. The alliance between NSL's Indian subsidiary NSL Mining Resources (NSL MRI) and Vijay Group subsidiary Vijay Mining (VMPL) will renew the company's focus on developing and expanding its existing mining assets while also exploring additional avenues for growth, including new mine acquisitions. NSL Managing Director Cedric Goode said the Joint Venture will help to strengthen the company's position within the Indian mining industry. "The first tranche funds will be immediately utilized in completing the purchase, construction and commissioning of the phase 2 wet beneficiation plant at Kurnool," Goode said. From April to November of 2012 the Indian steel industry achieved the highest global growth rate of 5.36%. The nation's existing annual domestic production of about 74 million mt is expected to grow to 200 million mt by 2020. "In previous calendar years, the Vijay Group's extensive iron ore and coal mining contracting business has been operating at a 70 million tonne/annum rate. Their existing equipment and operating/management expertise will be integrated into the Joint Venture as quickly as possible, which has significant strategic benefit to NSL," says Cedric Goode. NSL and Vijay are forecasting the Joint Venture to be operating at an estimated annual rate of 1.5 million mt of saleable iron ore within two years, with the potential to increase this target further in the next four to five years. Vijay will earn an initial 40% in NSL MRI for its investment and 9% free equity interest if it delivers two identified operating iron mines to the Joint Venture. NSL successfully commissioned its Kurnool iron ore plant in southeast India in July 2012. The phase 2 wet beneficiation plant process is anticipated to be capable of annually producing up to 200,000 mt with final grades of up to 62% iron. Kurnool is on a 12 acre industrial site within Andhra Pradesh. It uses the nearby Mangal mine as an iron source as well as the adjacent existing Kuja iron mine, which is also owned by NSL, which is the only foreign company to own and operate iron ore mines in India. www.e-mj.com