Ma'aden forms joint venture with Hancock to explore Saudi gold belt

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) has formed a joint venture with a unit of Australia's Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. to explore three areas in Saudi Arabia's Nabita Ad-Duwayhi gold belt, the Saudi state-owned miner said in a Dec. 29 news release.

Ma'aden will own a 50.1% stake in the JV, while the Hancock unit will hold the remaining 49.9% stake. The JV will conduct exploration, development, mining, sales and marketing of minerals in the three licensed areas. The licenses were awarded following successful bids by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources.

The partnership represents Ma'aden's latest international collaboration as Saudi Arabia seeks to diversify its economy beyond oil and establish itself as a major player in critical minerals supply chains. The country has identified mineral extraction as part of its Vision 2030 economic transformation program, targeting the development of untapped mineral resources across multiple geological belts.

Saudi Arabia produced 281,088 ounces of gold and 67,878 metric tons of copper — a small fraction of global production — in 2024, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

The partnership follows Ma'aden's Nov. 19 agreement to establish a rare-earths joint venture with MP Materials Corp. and the US Department of Defense, highlighting Saudi Arabia's accelerating push into strategic mineral sectors. The joint venture aims to develop a large-scale rare earth processing facility as part of a broader US-Saudi framework on critical minerals cooperation.