Exhibitors see golden chance for Saudi business growth

Maaden is building a world-class mineral-based industry in Saudi Arabia by producing a broad range of commodities for domestic and global markets, a top company executive said Wednesday.
Yahia Mohammed Al-Shangiti, vice president, gold and base metals, at Maaden, was speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the the 14th International Arab Mineral Resources Conference at the Jeddah Hilton.
The theme of the three-day conference is: “The Arab Mineral Wealth…. Strategic Resources and Promising Investment Opportunities.”
The Saudi Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources has organized the event in cooperation with the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO).
“Maaden is the leading mining and metals company in Saudi Arabia. As one of fastest growing companies in the world, Maaden takes part in such conferences to enhance knowledge about mining and environment,” Al-Shangiti added.
“We are also involved in several projects to promote sustainability,” he said.
Al-Shangiti said that Maaden employs 7,000 employees, and 67 percent of its Saudi staff in mining operations are from the local surrounding community.
He said: “We have established a polytechnic venture with the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) to train high school graduates for two years and transfer them to mine sites.”
The polytechnic is based in Arar in the north.
He said Maaden is building a minerals-based industry in Saudi Arabia to add value to the Kingdom’s gold, phosphate, bauxite, copper and other mineral resources by producing a broad range of commodities for domestic and global markets.
Al-Shangiti said: “Maaden’s goals of long-term growth and sustainability rely on exploration and delivering a project pipeline of new resources to provide development options that will sustain our existing businesses and grow new ones.”
Hassan Al-Qahtani, CEO of AWJ Energy Co., who was attending the mining exhibition, told Arab News: “AWJ Energy, part of Sumou Holding, is one of the renowned companies in Saudi Arabia with diversification businesses in different sectors, including real estate, construction, agriculture, energy, finance, retail business and CSR (corporate social responsibility).”
AWJ Energy is the arm for developing services toward oil and gas sectors and downstream industry, including mining, he said.
With great ambition, he said that the company is looking for collaboration with local and international companies to provide premium services and best in class technologies.
Minerals are strategic resources for the Kingdom as indicated by Saudi Vision 2030, he added.
Therefore, AWJ Energy is currently exerting efforts to develop required services to meet the current and future demands for the mining sector.
Manu Andrews Abraham, operations and marketing manager at Asamco Almarbaie, praised the conference organizers’ initiative to bring together the mining fraternity from across the region.
Since Saudi Arabia is opening up the mining sector, it gives the private sector an opportunity to develop in the field.
Abraham said: “We are one of the largest suppliers of silica in the region. We process around 3.5 million tons per annum for silica sand. Also, we provide contract mining services.”
Abdulaziz Al-Zahrani, minerals manager at ALS Arabia, said: “We are taking part in this conference because we are serving all mining companies.”
He said ALS Arabia is a diversified testing services organization, founded in 2009.
Al-Zahrani said that the company was striving to improve quality and services to match the requirements of Saudi Vision 2030.
“We are also trying to train Saudi nationals in mining ventures.”
Youssof Ali, business development manager at Core Mining, said that the company was taking part in the conference to gain more opportunities and projects in Saudi Arabia and to showcase its services such as drilling, blasting and loading and hauling.
“We established this company to work as service mining solution provider to remove headache for operations for mines and more concentration in industry,” he said.
Ali said: “We want to bring global experience in Saudi Arabia to provide better facilities in the Saudi market. We have a partner from South Africa — Aveng Mining — which has 66 years of experience in the mining business.”
Farraj Al-Mutairi, chairman of Amak, Al-Masane Al-Kobra Mining Company, said that the company is taking part in the mining conference as a diamond sponsor.
Amak is based in Najran, with the mine itself 120 km away in the Joshan area.
“They mine massive sulfide and we produce copper and zinc concentrate with byproducts gold and silver.”
Amak, which started production in 2012, makes around 35,000 tons of copper concentrate and about 45,000 tons of zinc concentrate.

Source: Arab News