Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, visited El Wadi El Gedid (New Valley) governorate to review the $800 million Abu Tartur Phosphate project, Egypt Oil & Gas reports.

The project has capacity to produce 500,000 tons of phosphoric acid per year using phosphate ore from Abu Tartur area reserves in El Wadi El Gedid.

The Abu Tartur project will use 2 million tons of phosphate ore per year, which will be the main input of production, said Khaled al-Ghazaly Harb, head of El Wady for Phosphate Industries and Fertilizers Company.

Egypt will produce phosphoric acid, which is used in the compound fertilizer industry through the Abu Tartur project in order to cover the country’s needs, Harb noted.

The project has three units, of which one is designed to produce concentrated sulfuric acid with a production capacity of 1.6 million tons per year, one is for producing phosphoric acid, and the third is for refining phosphoric acid in order to reach needed purity, Harb pointed out.

El Molla stated that the Ministry of Petroleum is currently preparing an attractive investment climate that utilizes mining resources according to the country’s sustainable development goals.