Saudi Arabian miner Maaden to ‘blow people’s hair back’ with growth push

            Saudi Arabian mining company Maaden will pursue a growth programme that will “blow people’s hair back” as it develops the country’s untapped resources, its boss has said.

 

Chief executive Bob Wilt said the Riyadh-listed company had set new targets as part of a “strategy refresh” that seeks to double gold production by 2030 and develop a rare earths supply chain.

 

The plans by one of the biggest mining companies in the Middle East comes as Saudi Arabia seeks to grow the sector under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 initiative to reduce the economy’s dependence on hydrocarbons.

 

“Our story is organic growth,” Wilt told the Financial Times. “We will blow people’s hair back with the scale of the reserve, and how quickly we are going to get there in terms of production.”

 

Maaden, which is majority owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, reported a 73 per cent jump in first-half net profit to SR3.47bn ($920mn),

most of which was generated by its phosphate mining business.

 

It plans to spend some $2.5bn annually for the next five years to develop domestic resources such as copper, gold and rare earths, amid a global race to secure access to minerals that are crucial to industries from electric vehicles to defence.

 

“We are all about speed and scale,” said Wilt, who has led the company since February 2022. “We are making a tremendous effort that will really move the needle.”

 

While the geology of Saudi Arabia is well known for its oil and gas potential — it is the world’s second-largest oil producer — much less exploration work has been done on its mineral potential. The country has made slow progress in tapping its mining resources as it struggled to attract foreign investment.

 

Maaden is using Saudi Aramco’s geologic data to identify exploration targets and areas of high potential, particularly for copper. It has partnered with groups such as Barrick Mining and Ivanhoe Electric, and is planning to boost overseas investments through its international arm Manara.

 

Wilt was dismissive of the recent trend of sovereign funds jumping into mining, saying there was a temptation to throw cash around to address political concerns about critical minerals supply chains. 

 

“We are much more disciplined,” he said.

 

Maaden’s ambitions have encountered setbacks recently, including the cancellation in January of a deal with Bahrain aluminium giant Alba that was announced last year, while industry executives say Maaden and Manara have not been able to move as fast as they would like.

 

            The only deal Manara has done since its founding in 2023 was its purchase of a 10 per cent stake in Vale Base Metals.

 

It passed on an opportunity to invest in Ivanhoe Mines, whose flagship copper mine is Kamoa-Kakula in the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to concerns over jurisdictional risk — only for the Qatar Investment Authority to take a $500mn stake in the Canadian group this week.

 

It also decided against buying a share in the Reko Diq mine in Pakistan, set to be one of the world’s largest copper projects when completed. 

https://www.ft.com/content/3d2937d8-8340-45ba-87eb-5f891038cee1