Saudi Arabia: United Cement Company has won the first of three new licenses to set up new cement plants in Saudi Arabia. United Cement's director general, Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Harbi, signed the deal on behalf of his company.The total annual production capacity of the completed plant is not expected to be more than 2Mt/yr.

Sultan bin Jamal Shawly, undersecretary at the ministry for mineral resources, said, "This license is issued as part of the first phase during which two more licenses will be issued to exploit limestone used for Portland and white cement." Shawly added that the license relatedo Hurrat Hadhen in Taif. "We will announce the winners of the second and third licenses on 26 November 2011 at the beginning of the new Hijrah year 1433H," he added. A number of local producers are in the running to secure the two other new licences.

Shawly said that the licenses are being issued with certain conditions that should be strictly followed by the winning company. "One condition is that the (plant operators) should employ and train Saudi workers and the percentage of Saudi workers should be not less than 40% by the end of the first year after starting production," he said. "We have also insisted that the number of Saudi workers in the company should reach 80% after the completion of four years of production."