Ras Al-Khair (Also called Ras Az-Zour, Ras Azzour) is a town and port currently under development in the Eastern Province of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. It is on the eastern coast, over 100 km (61 mi) north of

Jubail Jubail (, ''Al Jubayl'') is a city in the Eastern province on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, with a total population of 474,679 as of 2022. It is home to one of the largest industrial cities in the world. It is also home to the Middle ...

. It is also known under its project name of "Minerals Industrial City".

Industry

The new city, RAZMIC (Ras Al Zour Mineral Industrial City), is planned to exploit the mineral deposites of phosphate and bauxite found within Saudi Arabia. Therefore, a di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) plant will be built, an

aluminium smelter Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an List of alumina refineries, alumina refinery. ...

, an aluminium rolling mill, an

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

plant, an alumina refinery and facilities to produce phosphoric and

sulphuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

. Power will be supplied by the 2,400 MW Ras Al-Khair Power and Desalination Plant. The official ground breaking for the aluminium project by the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (MA'ADEN) and

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...

was on 19 June 2010. The project was scheduled to be completed by 2014. Among other projects a residential village for the MAADEN employees was built with 500 housing units. The

King Salman Global Maritime Industries Complex The King Salman Global Maritime Industries Complex is a shipyard in Ras Al-Khair, Saudi Arabia that is under construction and planned to open in late 2018. Upon completion, it will be the largest shipyard in the world. Development of the facility b ...

is under construction in Ras Al-Khair, and will be the largest shipyard in the world when it is completed.

Transportation

Airport

The town is served by

King Fahd International Airport King Fahd International Airport (; KFIA) , also known as Dammam International Airport or simply Dammam Airport or King Fahd Airport, is the international airport serving Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The airport is located 31 kilometres (19 miles) north ...

, the terminal is at a driving distance of 180 km (112 mi) to the south.

Rail

Ras Az-Zour will be linked by the

Saudi Railways Organization The Saudi Railways Organization (SRO) () was a state-owned railway company that operated part of Saudi Arabia's rail network, along with the Saudi Railway Company (now Saudi Arabia Railways). The SRO operated a network of railways with a total ...

to the

bauxite Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...

mines at Zabirah with a new railway line branch of the North-South Project. Later the line will be extended to meet the line from

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

via

Buraidah Buraydah or Buraidah (Arabic: بريدة) is the capital and largest city of Al-Qassim Province in north-central Saudi Arabia. Renowned as the agricultural capital of Saudi Arabia and often referred to as the food basket of the Kingdom, the cit ...

Haditha Haditha (, ''al-Ḥadīthah'') is a town in the Al Anbar Governorate, about northwest of Baghdad. It is a farming town situated on the Euphrates River. Its population of around 46,500 people, predominantly Sunni Muslim Arabs. The town lies near ...

at the so-called Zubairah Junction. As part of the

Saudi Landbridge Project The Saudi Landbridge is a railway line currently under development by the Saudi Railway Company (SAR). The 950 km (594 miles) ‘’Landbridge Line” has been planned to link Jeddah on the Red Sea coast with Riyadh, where it would link up wit ...

another line will connect the new port to Jubail and to

Dammam Dammam (Arabic: الدمام ad-Dammām) is a city and governorate, and the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 1,386,166 as of 2022, making it the country's fifth- ...

. Thus Ras Al-Zour will be connected to the bauxite mine near Zabirah, the

phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...

deposits near

Jalamid Jalamid() is a town and crossroads in Saudi Arabia near the Iraqi border. Jalamid Phosphate Mine The Al Jalamid site comprises the phosphate mine, beneficiation plant and supporting infrastructure and encompasses an area of approx. 50 km2. Mi ...

and the agricultural center at Al-Basyata as well as to the oil processing facilities via the Jubail line.

Sea

The proposed seaport is thought to become a major export hub for aluminium products and ammonium phosphate.

Renaming

In July 2011, King Abdullah changed the name of Ras Az-Zour to Ras Al-Khair (with ''Khair'' meaning light or bright to have a more positive naming), according to a statement by President of the

Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu (RCJY) was established on 21 September 1975, as an autonomous organization of the Saudi Arabian Government. The commission is governed by a board of directors and its chairman reports to the Council of Mi ...

Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Thunayan to the Saudi Press Agency on 6 July 2011.Okaz newspaper - Renaming of Ras Al-Zour
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References

External links

Mining is new pillar of the Saudi economy
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www.RasAlKhair.com {{Saudi Arabia topics Populated places in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia Populated coastal places in Saudi Arabia Port cities in the Arabian Peninsula Port cities and towns in Saudi Arabia