“Last year, Ma’aden embarked on one of the largest exploration programs in the world,” said Robert Wilt, CEO, Ma’aden. “These discoveries are a significant demonstration of the untapped potential of mineral resources in Saudi Arabia, supporting the diversification of the country in line with Vision 2030 and establishing mining as the third pillar of the Saudi economy.”

Exploration around Mansourah Massarah has focused on identifying potential deposits of similar scale with similar geology. Encouraging drill results from multiple sites on Uruq South, along a 100- km stretch south of Mansourah Massarah, have uncovered similar geological characteristics and chemistry to the Mansourah Massarah deposit. These results include high-grade drill intercepts, found 400 meters away from and under Mansourah Massarah, with several high-grade intercepts including core intercepts showing 61 m at 10.4 grams per metric ton (g/mt) of gold and 20 m at 20.6 g/mt of gold.

In addition, Ma’aden has expanded its exploration footprint at the Jabal Ghadarah and Bir Tawilah prospects 25 km north of Mansourah Massarah, where the company is converting an inferred resource of 1.5 million ounces (oz) to indicated and measured status.

Ma’aden believes that these combined drilling results have identified a potentially 125-km strike with significant potential to become a major world class gold belt in Saudi Arabia. The near-mine drilling results around Mansourah Massarah, indicate that the resource is open both at depth and along the strike offering significant potential to expand resources at the mine and, potentially, extend the mine life with underground development.

“These discoveries have the potential to be the center of the world’s next gold rush and are a strong part of our growth strategy,” Wilt said. “The Arabian Shield has enormous potential for more world-class discoveries, and this is the first of many we expect to make in the coming years.”

Mansourah Massarah had stated gold resources of almost 7 million oz at yearend 2023 and nameplate production capacity of 250,000 oz/y.