Aramco is betting 90 years of data can unlock Saudi’s copper potential

Aramco expects its planned mining joint venture with Maaden to speed up the hunt for copper, the company tells EnterpriseAM on the tie-up earlier this month, when the two signed a shareholders’ agreement. The JV is still in formation, but Aramco says pairing its subsurface data with AI and high-performance computing to target the most promising ground for copper and valuable minerals would “accelerate the path to discovery.”

The pitch rests on what each side brings: Aramco says it holds one of the world’s largest geological and geophysical datasets for a single basin, built over 90 years of exploration, while Maaden supplies the mining expertise. Running that data through AI and advanced computing is meant to narrow the search faster and cheaper than conventional exploration, which matters across a target zone spanning roughly 10% of the Kingdom’s landmass.

Why it matters: Copper is the prize. The metal is critical to power grids, renewables, storage, and EVs, and domestic supply would feed the downstream industries Saudi Arabia wants to build.

But it will take time: A typical deposit takes around 16 years from discovery to production, so the JV’s real test is how much capital Aramco and Maaden commit to it, a figure neither company has disclosed.

IN CONTEXT- The Kingdom has raised its estimate of the value of its mineral resources to around SAR 9.4 tn, up from SAR 5.2 tn when it launched its mining strategy. S&P Global Energy had told us it saw a rapid rise in Saudi exploration spending over the past two years, from USD 54 mn in 2023, primarily on gold and copper, to USD 236 mn in 2025.