Cairo – Mubasher: Egypt’s Mineral Resources Authority (MRA), East Gas Company, and IMEX International have signed an agreement to establish a company that will increase the value of low-concentration phosphate ores.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said the deal supports the government's goal of maximising local benefits from mining industries, according to an official statement.

El-Molla added that the Ministry is eager to expedite the project due to its importance and that the current environment is conducive to adding numerous projects, aligning with the government’s policy of facilitating investment procedures to maximise added value.

The new company aims to maximise the added value of Egyptian phosphate raw materials using advanced technology that chemically enhances the concentration of phosphorus, known as GetMoreP.

This technology will increase the concentration of phosphate raw material to levels exceeding 37%, and the highly concentrated phosphate ore will be marketed globally, particularly to manufacturers of phosphoric acid and compound fertilisers.

The GetMoreP technology, owned by PRYON, was chosen over other methods such as foam flotation due to its lower water consumption and ability to produce high-quality phosphorus pentoxide.

The project will be self-sufficient in energy, generating steam and power from a sulphuric acid unit that will produce the necessary sulphuric acid by burning sulphur.

El-Molla also witnessed the signing of the project implementation contract between East Gas, IMEX, and ThyssenKrupp, and Sofreco.

Sofreco will serve as the project management consultant during the various stages of implementation, and ThyssenKrupp will handle the project execution due to its extensive experience in the fertiliser sector.

The project has a production capacity of one million tons of raw materials annually, with a total cost of $250 million.