Construction work is due to start later this year on a major new copper tube mill worth $46 million at Oman’s Sohar Port and Freezone, following a land lease agreement signed with the freezone authority.

As per the agreement, the mill will be built over an area of 35,000 sq m with a further 30,000 sq m of land having been set aside to increase the plant’s capacity to 30,000 T in the future, reported the Oman Daily Observer.

The plant, with a capacity of 15,000 T of high technology copper tubing per annum, is due for start-up by mid-2018, with full production scheduled by October 2018, said the report.

An agreement to this effect was recently signed by Jamal T Aziz, chief executive of Sohar Freezone, and Marc Evertse, executive commercial manager, Sohar Port and Freezone in the presence of Sultan bin Salim Al Habsi, chairman of Sohar Industrial Port Company at the Grand Hyatt Muscat, it added.

This latest addition to the burgeoning free zone metals cluster will produce mainly inner-grooved copper tubes, as well as plain copper tubes, both of which are widely used in the manufacturing of heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC) systems.

The plant’s technology is most commonly known as ‘cast and roll’ and comprises of three distinct production stages.

The raw material (copper cathodes), which is then formed directly into mother tubes, will be sourced from Iran or the local market, said the report.

Investments in the plant, that total around $46 million, are to be split between four main shareholders: Middle East Investment Company, Mohsin Haider Darwish Invesco, Hussain bin Salman Ghulam al Lawati and Al Habib Holdings, it added.