Aramco, Maaden plan mining JV across area nearly 10% of Saudi Arabia
The proposed venture will focus on copper, zinc, lead and rare earth elements
Dubai: Aramco and Maaden have signed a shareholders’ agreement to form a joint venture focused on mineral exploration and hard-rock mining across approximately 182,000 square kilometres of Saudi Arabia, an area equivalent to nearly 10% of the Kingdom’s total land mass.
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The proposed venture will focus mainly on copper, alongside zinc, lead and rare earth elements used across electric vehicles, power networks, energy storage and renewable energy systems.
Maaden is expected to own 51% of the venture, with Aramco holding the remaining 49%, subject to corporate and regulatory approvals and antitrust clearance.
Focus on a vast exploration zone
Exploration would centre on Zone-4, also known as the Transition Zone, within the Arabian Platform.
The area stretches along a roughly 100-kilometre-wide zone running parallel to the Arabian Shield and represents a new exploration area for both companies.
Aramco plans to bring decades of geological and geophysical data, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence tools to the venture, while Maaden will contribute its mining and mineral exploration expertise.
Over 90 years, Aramco has accumulated and analyzed the largest amount of geological and geophysical data ever acquired in a single basin for the Kingdom. This partnership intends to leverage this legacy information to find minerals in the JV area within the basin.Saleh M. Al Saleh, Aramco Vice President of Transition Minerals
Copper at the centre
Copper will be the main target of the venture, with demand linked to electric vehicles, electricity networks, renewable energy systems and storage.
The metal accounts for more than 20% of the $1.2 trillion mined metals market, according to the companies. The copper market is currently valued at around $250 billion and is projected to exceed $400 billion by 2035.
The venture would also explore for zinc, lead and rare earth elements.
“Maaden has been advancing one of the world’s largest single jurisdiction exploration programs across the Arabian Shield to help unlock the Kingdom’s mineral potential," said Darryl Clark, Maaden Executive Vice President for Exploration. "This joint venture would take that ambition into a new area.”
AI to narrow exploration targets
The companies plan to use computational algorithms, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to identify areas more likely to contain copper and other valuable minerals.
The approach is intended to speed up the process from regional screening to defining exploration targets and eventual discovery.
Plans for the venture were first disclosed in January 2025.
The shareholders’ agreement and incorporation of the joint venture remain subject to the completion of certain conditions, including required corporate and regulatory approvals and antitrust clearance.
