A delegation of major Chinese mining firms visited Sunday Egypt's Abu-Tartour phosphate plateau amidst plans to start a significant mining project in the country. The Chinese delegation seeks to start key steps to finance and build the first mining project to produce phosphoric acid in Egypt, with costs estimated at around $1 billion. Abu-Tartour phosphate project is one f the largest phosphate mines in the Middle East, located in Abu Tartour in New Valley governorate, 650km (404 miles) south of Cairo. Khaled El-Ghazali – Chairman of Phosphate Misr, which operates the phosphate mine in Abu-Tartour plateau, said his company had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese firms. The MoU aims to lay the foundation for the anticipated project to manufacture phosphoric acid as a primary phase to produce the phosphate cement in Abu-Tartour, El-Ghazali added. The Chinese firms will take part in the construction steps as well as financing the project, said Phosphate Misr's vice chairman, Abdul Rahman Ahmed. Those firms have already major works in Cairo, notably in some parts of Egypt's new capital city project, Ahmed added.
