Omani firm Al Fajar applies for four quarry licenses

Muscat: Al Fajar Al Alamia, an Omani firm listed on the Muscat bourse, has submitted four applications for licenses for quarries in northern part of the Sultanate.

The company believes that the mining and quarrying industry in the Sultanate will see tremendous improvement in view of the large volumes of rock requirement in Qatar and the need for limestone and gypsum in the Asian markets.

Rock products

The port facilities need upgradation in the northern part of the country to handle high volumes of rock products required in Qatar, Bangladesh and Iraq, stated a top official in its annual report.

“We are confident that the Government will take effective and immediate measures to exploit the opportunity that will see considerable increase in the mining and quarrying activities in the long term,” stated Saleem bin Qassim bin Ahmed Al Zawawi, chairman of Al Fajar Al Alamia, in the annual report. The group has an order book of OMR38.5 million and expects to increase the order book by added activities, such as earth works and quarries.

The mining division of the company will considerably increase its revenue based on the large number of enquiries for rock products that are received from Qatar and Bangladesh. “We have already signed an agreement to supply aggregate products to Lafarge, a major company in Qatar. To produce the large volumes required, we need to install a static crusher and related equipment, a business plan for which is under the consideration of your board,” added the chairman.

Joint venture

Al Fajar Al Alamia has also entered into a partnership with Fujeirah Holdings to manufacture and trade in explosives products. This would enhance the profitability of the group, where the explosives requirement of its subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—Techdrill—will be met with in-house supplies. “We expect the production facilities to come on line within the next six to nine months.”

“We are hopeful that the current downturn in the UAE market for rock products would soon be reversed with supplies to Iraq, Bangladesh, etc.,” said Al Zawawi.

The competition witnessed in the recent years will continue in the future as new entrants view the drilling and blasting business with the simplistic approach of buying a few rigs and hiring a few drilling and blasting personnel. They are pinning their hopes of securing business on reducing prices to unrealistic levels to attract unwary customers.

Intense competition

The explosives industry in the Sultanate witnessed intense competition with several small sized companies aggressively chasing the few projects that commenced blasting during the year. This has led to an unhealthy price war with the result that projects could only be secured by lowering prices to unrealistic and uneconomical levels, said Al Zawawi.