Hancock Prospecting re-enters Saudi Arabia
Hancock Prospecting re-enters Saudi Arabia
Hancock Prospecting has become the first Australian company to enter a joint venture (JV) with Saudi Arabia’s largest miner, Maaden. The Gina Rinehart owned company made a successful bid for five exploration licenses in the Nabita Ad-Duwayhi Gold-Belt, where the Hancock Maaden joint venture will conduct its initial exploration activities. The joint venture will conduct exploration, development, mining, sales and marketing of minerals in licensed areas in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Celebrating the agreement, member of the Hancock team attended the Future Mines Forum in Riyadh during a Round 9 licence award ceremony earlier this month. Hancock prospecting executive chairman Gina Rinehart says the company strives to be the best miner in Australia and will now be working with Saudi Arabia with great enthusiasm. “Our company group brings substantial experience across exploration, project development and operations — including the rare distinction of building the $15b mega Roy project both on time and on budget, a project built successfully in record time and including some of the world’s largest mining equipment.” Maaden chief executive Bob Wilt says the company has been actively ramping up its exploration efforts across the Kingdom. “Working in partnership with Hancock, this program will speed up discovery,” he said. “It also ensures we can build, develop and operate at pace and scale, all while developing a talent pipeline and a global mineral hub.” In December, Saudi Arabia granted exploration licenses worth $100m to local and international companies, including Hancock Prospecting, for its first mineral belts at Jabal Sayid and Al-Hajjar. These two sites, covering a combined area of 4,788km2, are part of the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources’ efforts to accelerate the exploration and development of the Kingdom’s estimated $2.48t (SR9.3t) in mineral resources.
