Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) added 7.8 mn ounces to its gold mineral resources, powered by targeted drilling at four key sites, the company said in a statement (pdf) to Tadawul earlier this week. The growth was led by the Kingdom’s largest gold mine, Mansourah Massarah, in Makkah Province and the new Wadi Al Jaww discovery in the Arabian Shield.

The breakdown: Mansourah Massarah added 3 mn ounces y-o-y, bringing its total mineral resource estimate to 10.4 mn ounces. The deposit remains “open at depth,” with studies underway to evaluate underground mining as a complement to the existing open-pit operations. Meanwhile, at Wadi Al Jaww, the company defined 3.1 mn ounces of gold after completing around 55 km of drilling over a year.

A potential regional processing hub is coming into focus. Satellite deposits Uruq 20/21 and Umm As Salam added 1.7 mn ounces combined, all within trucking distance of Mansourah Massarah, raising the prospect of expanding the mine into a broader regional processing hub.

Looking for even more gold

The latest additions reflect the payoff from an aggressive exploration push. Maaden completed 221 km of advanced drilling in the Central Arabian Gold Region, uncovering new mineralized zones, while near-mine drilling at the historic Mahd mine extended its known resource potential. The company also reported a new gold discovery at Ar Rjum North, while early results from Jabal Shayban and Jabal Al Wakil indicate promising potential for copper, nickel, and platinum group elements.

Exploration will continue through 2026, with Maaden highlighting the largely underexplored Arabian Shield as a key source of future upside.

A long game

The exploration drive is part of a “strategy refresh” to unlock the Kingdom’s untapped mineral wealth. Maaden aims to double gold production by 2030 while also laying the groundwork for a domestic rare earths supply chain in a program Maaden CEO Bob Wilt said in September would “blow people’s hair back.”

The company plans to invest around USD 2.5 bn annually over five years in copper, gold, and rare earth projects, drawing on Saudi Aramco’s geological data to identify new exploration targets.

What they said: “The results leave no doubt that the company’s long-term strategy is working on the ground. This is exactly why we continue to invest heavily in Saudi Arabia’s gold endowment,” Wilt said in the statement. “The addition of more than 7 [mn] ounces […] demonstrates the scale and ongoing potential of Maaden’s gold portfolio,” he added.

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