Announcement of IFC Helps Finance Thirty-Nine Million Forty Thousand US Dollars Project to Produce Aluminium Flouride in Jordan on April 6, 1982

IFC Press Release No. 82/24 Tuesday, April 6, 1982 IFC to Help Finance $39.4 Million Project To Produce Aluminium Fluoride in Jordan The International Finance Corporation is helping finance a $39.4 million project in Jordan for construction of a 20,000 ton per annum aluminium fluoride plant with Jordan Fertilizer Industry Company (JFI), a major industrial venture in Jordan. Under construction in Aqaba, the project will use fluosilicic acid, a toxic waste from the Company's adjacent fertilizer plant as a primary raw material, which otherwise would have to be neutralized at considerable expense. The plant's entire production of aluminium fluoride is expected to be exported to Middle Last countries and Australia and will earn Jordan approximately $8 million a year in foreign exchange. The financing for the project includes $12.2 million equivalent of local loans and equity, a buyer's credit of SwF 33.1 million ($17.5 million equivalent) provided by the Union Bank of Switzerland and an IFC loan of SwF 20.0 million ($10.5 million equivalent). The aluminium fluoride project will use a relatively new technology provided by Swiss Aluminum Ltd., (Alusuisse), a major aluminium producer. Similar plants are currently under construction in Iraq, Brazil and Yugoslavia. Alusuisse will be responsible for the project until successful completion of the performance test runs and takeover of the plant by JFI. IFC has enjoyed a close association with JFI since 1975 and helped finance the JFI fertilizer complex with an equity investment equivalent to $9 million and loans totalling $70 million, of which $50 million sold to participating banks. IFC strongly supported the concept of the aluminium fluoride facility and helped in its development.