Saudi Arabian contract for Harsco

Saudi Arabia – Global industrial solutions company Harsco Corporation has won a seven-year contract valued at more than US$ 50 million to provide on-site slag management, materials logistics, metal recovery and by-product processing services to the Middle East’s newest steel mill – the US$ 1.35 billion South Steel complex now nearing completion in Saudi Arabia’s Jazan province.

The plant, expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2012, is expected to produce 1 million tonnes of steel rebar and billet per annum, with plans for further expansion in line with Saudi Arabia’s rising demand. In 2010, Saudi Arabia announced plans to invest US$ 400 billion in new infrastructure projects through to 2014, funded from the kingdom’s cash reserves.
A large proportion of South Steel’s output is likely to be channelled into the development of the surrounding Jazan Economic City, slated to become one of the kingdom’s major industrial hubs with a projected population of 300 000 residents and major seaport facilities to serve the petrochemical and heavy industrial sectors.
The contract is expected to position Harsco to bid on future phases of the mill’s expansion, and adds to the company’s growing strategic presence in Saudi Arabia and the greater Middle Eastern region where it already serves a number of the largest metals mills as well as the non-residential and industrial construction, rail and energy sectors.