Major Egyptian phosphate rock producer Misr Phosphate is selling rock with reduced dust content for shipment to Europe and Latin America from Damietta port in the Mediterranean.
The producer has built a facility at the Abu Tartour phosphate mine in southwestern Egypt to remove particles measuring less than 80 micrometers from crushed phosphate rock. It says the process reduces dust by about 80pc while raising the P2O5 content by 1.0-1.5pc and cutting the heavy metal content.
The ‘de-dusting' facility at Abu Tartour at present is running at an output of about 1,000 t/day (t/d), with the potential to reach capacity of about 2,000 t/d in the second quarter of this year.
Misr Phosphate began marketing the low-dust rock at the end of 2024. So far, 15,000t of the product — ranging from 27-29pc P2O5 — has shipped to southern Europe. A further 7,000t — containing 26-27pc P2O5 — is set to complete loading at Damietta for shipment to Brazil this week.
Misr Phosphate also will load 15,000t of low-dust rock in March for shipment to Brazil and a further 20,000t in April for shipment to Spain.
The prices of the cargoes sold are not yet known but are likely to be higher because of the added processing costs.
High levels of dust in Egyptian phosphate rock previously excluded the product from many markets because of environmental regulations at discharging ports. Misr Phosphate says the low-dust cargoes delivered to European ports so far have unloaded successfully.
Misr Phosphate is the sole license holder for mining phosphate rock in Abu Tartour. It also holds licenses to operate in El Sabaia and Red Sea mines further east.
Misr Phosphate last year produced about 6.7mn t of phosphate rock of all grades, about 3.7mn t of which were exported. It targets 7mn t of phosphate rock production and 4mn t of exports for this year.
Total Egyptian phosphate rock exports were 5.2mn t last year and are anticipated to reach as high as 6mn t this year, Egyptian marketing company for phosphate and fertilizers (EMPHCO) said. Egyptian rock exports totalled 680,000t in January, including 273,000t that were shipped to India. EMPHCO expects Egypt to export 1.2mn t of phosphate rock this quarter.
