Eshidiya Mine

The mine is located at 125 km north east of Aqaba. Its annual production capacity is about 5 million tons. It consists of a number of layers; there are layer (A0), where phosphate TCP ranges between 40%-50%, and other three layers (A1, A2, A3), where phosphate TCP ratio of each is 50%, 69%, and 40%, respectively.

Eshidiya Mine is located 50 km south west of the city of Ma’an in an area estimated at 315 km2. As that area is rich in phosphate, the Company had conducted detailed studies during 1975-1979. Studies and boreholes drilling continued chronologically as the following:

  • (1977-1987): Manual drilling of 173 boreholes with a diameter of 1.25 m for additional verification and following the ore extension.
  • (1987-2002): A total of 4200 boreholes were drilled in a drilling grid of (50mx30m) and (100mx60m) at the first and second mines for quality control purposes. Furthermore, 200 boreholes were drilled in a drilling grid of (400mx400m) at the top of the higher part of the second mine, with the purpose of verifying phosphate ore allocations and extensions. Additional 55 boreholes of a diameter of 1.26 m were manually drilled.
  • (1997-2002): A total of 2600 boreholes were drilled and 6 experimental ditches at the location of the upper ore.
  • (2002-2004): A total of 2000 boreholes were drilled at the upper locations of the ore, the road ore, and the first mine for quality control purposes.

Eshidiya ore is classified according to the following layers:

A1 Layer: mining is done at its three levels B, C, and D, where the ore requires washing and quality upgrading.

A2 Layer: it a layer of high quality phosphate of tri-calcium phosphate (TCP), which doesn’t require any processing other than sieving.

A3 Layer: which contains sandy phosphate and phosphate sand, where the fine particles are mined, and the solid parts are left at their locations. This type of phosphate requires washing and floating. At the upper ore location, ores are classified within the following layers:

S1: ore requires washing and ratio upgrading.

S2: phosphate with high TCP ratio, where requires no more than sieving.