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Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has signed two joint venture agreements that will target global and local opportunities in the mining sector.
The Tadawul-listed company signed a joint venture agreement with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), to establish a new company to invest in mining assets globally to secure strategic minerals.
The mining major will hold 51 percent of the new company, while the PIF will hold the remaining 49 percent stake, the company said in a stock exchange statement.
The new venture will have an initial paid-up capital of 187.50 million Saudi riyals ($49.93 million).
Maaden will invest SAR 95.63 million in the JV from its own resources.
The new company’s strategy will be initially to invest in the iron ore, copper, nickel, and lithium sectors as a non-operating partner, taking minority equity positions, the statement said.
The move will provide a physical offtake of critical minerals to ensure supply security for domestic minerals downstream sectors and position Saudi Arabia as a key partner in global supply chain resilience.
PIF is the largest shareholder in Maaden, holding a 67.18 percent stake.
Joint venture with Ivanhoe Electric
In a separate statement, Maaden said it would form an equally-owned joint venture with US-based Ivanhoe Electric (IE) to explore and develop mining projects in the Kingdom.
The company also signed heads of terms agreement with IE to acquire 9.9 percent equity interest in the latter for SAR 474 million ($126.4 million).
The joint venture will provide Ma’aden access to IE’s proprietary “Typhoon” technology, which conducts geophysical surveys using high-powered transmitters to detect the presence of sulphide minerals containing copper, nickel, gold and silver, the statement added.
(Writing by D Madhura; Editing by Anoop Menon)
