Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) said on Tuesday it has chosen South Korea's Daelim Industrial Company for preliminary work on its Jubail petrochemicals project.

Maaden said it expected construction of the project, a joint venture with Sahara Petrochemicals Company, to be completed in the third quarter of 2012.

In a statement on the Saudi bourse website, Maaden said it sent a letter of intent to Daelim on Tuesday. The plant is expected to have capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of caustic soda and 300,000 tonnes per year of ethylene dichloride, Maaden said.

Caustic soda is a feedstock used for the refining of bauxite to alumina.-Reuters