RIYADH: The 海角直播n Mining Company (Ma鈥檃den) has awarded a new $880 million contract at its Mansourah-Massarah gold mines, marking the company鈥檚 largest-ever investment in the gold sector.
The agreement was signed for Jac Rijk Al-Rushaid Contracting and Services Company to provide operational mining services at the gold mines. The range of services will include drilling, scaling, loading, hauling, re-handling, ore control, dewatering, crusher feed, and all related production activities at the mines.
It is forecast that the Mansourah-Massarah site will reach full production capacity by 2023 and will represent one-quarter of Ma鈥檃den鈥檚 goal to produce 1 million ounces of gold per year by 2025.
The Mansourah-Massarah site is one of six mines in Ma鈥檃den鈥檚 portfolio and is part of the company鈥檚 bid to boost local production. Gold currently accounts for around 20 percent of Ma鈥檃den鈥檚 revenues.
Ma鈥檃den on Sunday also announced the completion of the pre-operational stage at its third ammonia plant in Ras Al-Khair Industrial City. The $900 million project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021 and will start operations in the first quarter of 2022, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The ammonia plant is the first project as part of Ma鈥檃den鈥檚 $6.4 billion Phosphate 3 expansion plan, which aims to add 3 million tonnes of phosphate fertilizer production capacity to Ma鈥檃den鈥檚 portfolio. This will bring Ma鈥檃den鈥檚 total production capacity of more than 9 million tonnes and make it one of the top three global phosphate fertilizer producers in the world.
Ma鈥檃den CEO Abdul Aziz Al-Harbi said in a press statement: 鈥淭his is a tremendous milestone for our phosphate portfolio. The ammonia plant expansion will add over 1 million tonnes of ammonia production to reach 3.3 million tonnes, making Ma鈥檃den one of the largest ammonia producers east of the Suez Canal.鈥
Ma鈥檃den in April reported a net profit after zakat and tax of SR 761.2 million ($202.99 million) in the first quarter of 2021, compared to a net loss of SR 353.3 million in the first quarter of 2020.
The Kingdom鈥檚 Ministry of Energy has estimated its untapped mineral resources to be worth about SR 5 trillion. Under Vision 2030, the government is aiming to triple the mining and metals sector鈥檚 contribution to gross domestic product and create 200,000 jobs directly and indirectly by 2030.
鈥満＝侵辈 has vast under-explored territories compared with other world-class mining countries. Ma鈥檃den鈥檚 goal is to capitalize on that to become one of the world鈥檚 top mining companies, and we are making great strides in achieving this goal,鈥 Mosaed Al-Ohali, former CEO of Ma鈥檃den, told Arab News in October 2020.
鈥淭he increase in exploration spending is focused on brownfield drilling, assessment of potential greenfield targets and continued drilling at many prospective locations to maintain healthy ore reserves. We are working on two more gold mines that we expect to bring on stream around the middle of the decade,鈥 he added.
On Friday, gold prices slipped slightly, down 1.2 percent to $1,875.31 per ounce, while US gold futures were 0.9 percent lower at $1,879.6.
