On 22 March, 2022, the Fertilisers and Phytosanitary Products Industrial Group (Asmidal), the subsidiary of Sonatrach Group (Sonatrach) announced that it signed a shareholders' agreement with Manadjim Eldjazair Industrial Group (Manal), Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd. (Wuhuan), and Yunnan Tianan Chemical Co., Ltd. (Yunnan Tianan). The four sides intended to found a joint-stock company governed by the Algerian law in order to start preliminary activities related to the development of an integrated phosphates project (IPP). The new company is called Algerian Chinese Fertilisers Company (ACFC), with 56% of shares owned by the Algerian part and 44% by the Chinese part.
The IPP project, with an investment of around USD7 billion, is the first integrated project in Algeria in mining and fertiliser production field. It will include the development and exploitation of the phosphate deposit of Bled El Hadba, Djebel Onk, wilaya of Tebessa, chemical transformation of phosphates in Oued Kébérit, wilaya of Souk Ahras, manufacture of fertilisers in Hadjar Soud, wilaya of Skikda, as well as dedicated port facilities located at the port of Annaba. When completed, this project will achieve fertiliser capacity of around 5.40 million t/a.
In Nov. 2018, Sonatrach and CITIC Construction Co., Ltd. signed an agreement on Tebessa phosphorus ore project, with value hitting USD6 billion. This project is anticipated to be put into production in 2022, with 51% of shares owned by the Algerian part. However, this project has stood still. In May 2021, the Algerian part launched an open call for expressions of interest and subsequently Wuhuan and Yunnan Tianan were selected.
Asmidal, founded in 1984 by Sonatrach, engages in the production, marketing, and development of fertilisers, nutrients, and phytosanitary products.
Manal was established in 2011 and the company is specialised in the exploration, mining and quarrying, as well as the processing, development, and trading of mining products.
Wuhuan, situated in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China National Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. Wuhuan has conducted more than 3,000 engineering design projects and over 300 Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) projects, over 200 of which are overseas projects. Wuhuan is an international engineering company integrating technical R&D, engineering technology, engineering services and industrial operations.
Yunnan Tianan, founded in Nov. 2003, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yunnan Yuntianhua Co., Ltd. The company possesses production equipment of 1.82 million t/a high-concentration phosphate fertilisers, 675,000 t/a wet-process phosphoric acid, 2.20 million t/a sulphuric acid, and 500,000 t/a synthetic ammonia. It is one of the largest high-concentration phosphate fertiliser production bases in China.