Today, the founding assembly of El Alamein Silicon Products Company was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, in the presence of representatives of the shareholders in the new company, which was established within the framework of the steps to establish the new project, in the presence of representatives of the shareholders in the new company.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced the start of the implementation of the silicon production complex project in New Alamein City, which is one of the most important national and strategic projects for the petroleum and mineral resources sector within the framework of its vision to achieve optimum economic benefit from natural and mineral resources, explaining that the project is a model for partnership between the state and the private sector in establishing industries New projects to exploit mineral wealth with national investments, as an alternative to exporting these wealth in its raw form, which enhances the added value and return of these wealth to the Egyptian economy.
Engineer Tarek El-Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, confirmed providing the necessary support to implement the first phases of the project at a rapid pace and concerted efforts between the project partners from the governmental and private sectors in order to overcome any challenges in light of the importance of the project and its high economic feasibility and its intrusion into new industrial fields that Egypt is witnessing for the first time, such as silicon manufacturing. and its derivatives.
The structure of the shareholders in the new project for the petroleum and mineral wealth sector includes the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company, the Egyptian General Authority for Mineral Resources, the Egyptian Company for Mineral Resources, and the Ministry of Public Business Sector represented by the Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries and the Egyptian Company for Ferroalloys, in partnership with Ibdaa for Project Development, the arm of the initiative. The National Company for the Development of Egyptian Industry “Ibda'” and each of the Libra Capital Company and the Central Desert Mining Company.
The work of the association began with a review by Dr. Mohamed El-Bagoury, Undersecretary of the Founders and Director General of Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, of the steps and procedures taken to establish the new company as an Egyptian joint stock company. Amjad Kamel, President of the Company.
The assembly witnessed Dr. Amjad Kamel, the head of the El Alamein Company for Silicon Products, reviewing the most important features of the project to be established on an area of 200 acres in the land of the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company in the new city of El Alamein, and the current executive position of the project, which aims to provide a locally made product of silicone and its derivatives instead of importing it. He explained that the project includes 4 different stages, where a detailed feasibility study for the first phase was completed, which aims to produce metallic silicon with a production capacity of 45,000 tons per year and an investment cost estimated at about $172 million, depending on the ultra-pure Egyptian quartz ore instead of exporting it as raw material abroad, which will meet the needs of the local market. By substituting imports of this substance, which is used in many industries and applications, such as the aluminum industry, silicone derivatives from polysilicon, and intermediate silicones, provided that the surplus is exported.
In the second phase, it is planned to establish a project for the production of silicon derivatives “intermediate silicones”, which are used in the manufacture of insulation materials, building and construction materials, rubber, medical uses, paper, etc., with an initial production capacity ranging between 60-100 thousand tons annually, depending on the local availability of basic raw materials represented in metallic silicon. methanol and hydrochloric acid.
The third phase also aims to establish a factory for the production of polysilicon with an initial production capacity of 10,000 tons annually, which is involved in the electronics industry and the solar cell industry, as the electronic chip industry in the global technology sector in the world depends on polysilicon, as well as to keep pace with the increasing expansion of solar energy projects. to achieve sustainability. It is planned to implement the fourth phase of the silicon complex and its derivatives through the establishment of a complex for small and medium industries to produce final products to be imported from abroad, such as insulation materials, adhesives, binders and rubber.
The project has the ingredients for success and achieving the highest economic and competitive feasibility, as raw materials, infrastructure and renewable energy sources are available, in addition to the high prices of its products and the strong demand for them locally and abroad in the Egyptian market and neighboring markets. Each stage also achieves added value and a high return from manufacturing the product compared to the raw material. The value of a ton of the final product in the first stage, which is metallic silicon, reaches $340 per ton, compared to quartz, the raw material, which is sold at about $15 per ton.
It is planned that it will be fed with electrical energy produced from renewable sources such as solar energy. It should be noted that it is in line with the global trend towards the use of renewable energies and in line with the general policies of the Egyptian state to expand the use of solar energy as a source of clean, renewable energy and within the framework of the petroleum sector’s vision aimed at achieving sustainability in all its projects. They are environmentally friendly projects. The project will be established using the EPC+FINANCE system to procure the financing necessary for its implementation through the general contractor for the project, in a way that does not place any financial burdens or obligations on the shareholders.
Eng. Ibrahim Makki, Chairman of the Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company, Chemist Saad Helal, Geologist Yasser Ramadan, Chairman of the Mineral Resources Authority, Dr. Hisham Lotfy, Assistant Minister for Legal Affairs and Geologist Hany Mostafa, President of the Egyptian Company for Mining Resources, and the heads of the companies contributing to the company from the Ministry of Public Business Sector and the public sector participated in the assembly’s work. private.