Saudi Arabia sign contracts of launching mine plant to produce gold

Saudi Arabia sign contracts of launching mine plant to produce gold
Saudi Arabia sign contracts of launching mine plant to produce gold

The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) has announced Tuesday the signing of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ma'aden Gold and Minerals Base, to develop the Mansoura and Mansoura mines and set up a gold production plant.

The projectwill be on the Outotec and Larsen & Toubro Consortium to undertake detailedengineering work, operating, supporting the operation and working with Ma'adento train the national, engineering and technical cadres on the operation,maintenance, performance and development of the local content of the projectpurchases.

Mansoura andMaserah mines are located in the Middle Arabian Shield, one of the richestmineral geological regions in the Kingdom, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The projectis the largest gold mine ever, producing an average of 250,000 ounces of goldper year over the mine's original life span. It is expected that the totalinvestment in the mine will reach about 3.3 billion riyals, equivalent to 880million dollars, and is scheduled to complete the project and start productionin 2022.

Thetreatment plant will be able to process up to 4 million tonnes per year ofthermal materials found in mineral deposits – the first time this type of goldore has been processed in the Middle East.

Ma'adencontinues to pursue attractive growth investments in the Kingdom. Mansoura andMasrah mines represent a major step for Ma'aden not only because they are thelargest gold mines at all, but also because of the technical challenges thataccompany the treatment of this type of gold ore.

"We areproud of this project, which was discovered through the activities of theMa'aden Exploration Team, which carries out extensive mining explorationprograms, which was announced earlier this year," Darren Davis, ChiefExecutive Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Maaden said.

"Thisproject is an important element of our strategy to increase our gold productionto one million ounces a year and our continued growth in the Kingdom willprovide hundreds of direct and indirect jobs in the Saudi economy andcontribute to the development of communities around our business areas.

"Sustainabilityis a key element of this project, as in other Ma'aden investments. This projectwill be the first in the Kingdom to use solar energy as a source of energy. Theproject will also benefit from treated wastewater for miners via a pipelineconstructed by Ma'aden 430 km long Taif arrives in the remote and water-scarcearea of the mines.

Ma'aden is also managing six gold mines in the western part of the kingdom, including the Duwehi mine, which began commercial production in 2017 with around 275,000 oz in 2018. Ma'aden plans to spend about 295 million riyals ($ 67 million) on the exploration program The accelerated minefield, which was launched at the beginning of 2019, represents a threefold increase in Maaden's investment commitment in previous years. It aims to shorten the time required to transfer new discoveries to the development stage.

It is worthnoting that Ma'aden Gold and Minerals is a wholly owned subsidiary of Maaden,which specializes in the production and sale of gold, copper, silver and zinc.Gold continues to take the largest part of its production, the first commodityextracted by Ma'aden, which formed the basis for the subsequent growth anddiversification of metals.

Ma'aden Goldand Minerals has produced approximately 415,000 ounces of precious metal in2018 and aims to increase this figure to one million ounces per year as part ofMa'aden's strategy towards 2025.

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