Alcoa, Maaden award $275 mln Saudi plant contracts

RIYADH Aug 31 (Reuters) - Saudi state-run mining firm Maaden 1211.SE and U.S. partner Alcoa (AA.N) awarded 1.03 billion riyals ($274.7 million) worth of contracts for a mega aluminium complex in Saudi Arabia, Maaden said on Tuesday.

The contracts are mainly to provide equipment for the rolling mill at Ras Azzour on the Gulf coast, where the two companies plan to build the world's largest fully integrated aluminium complex.

The contracts were awarded to Germany's SMS Siemag and BWG Bergwerk, Austria's Ebner and U.S. Wagstaff, Maaden said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website.

The joint venture is to be a fully integrated industrial complex, with a bauxite mine at Ba'aitha as well as an alumina refinery, an aluminium smelter and a rolling mill.

The smelter and rolling mill are set to start production by the end of 2013, Maaden said. ($1=3.750 riyals) (Reporting by Reem Shamseddine, editing by Jane Baird)