Mahd Ad Dhahab Mine is one of the oldest gold mines in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, located in Mahd Ad Dhahab Governorate, al-Madinah al-Munawwarah Province. The mine commenced its activities three millennia ago and was mined in large quantities around 950 BCE, which coincided with the reign of the Kingdom of Sheba in Yemen.
Mahd Ad Dhahab Mine continued to operate throughout the ages and was used during the time of the Prophet Muhammed, when it was exploited by the tribes of Bani Salim. During the Umayyad Caliphate, demand for gold increased to meet the Umayyad State's need to mint its own gold currency, which happened under the reign of Caliph Abdulmalik Bin Marwan. In 694, he established new Islamic mints to issue currency. The mine was also exploited under the Abbasids, as historical sources confirm that the quantity produced from the mine was about forty t.
This activity continued at the Mahd Ad Dhahab Mine until the Founding King Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud unified the Kingdom. Under his reign, in the period 1939–1954, the Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate (SAMS) extracted gold and silver from the mine. In 1976, Petromin granted an exploration concession to Gold Fields Ltd.
Mahd Ad Dhahab Mine during the second mining period
Subsequently, Mahd Ad Dhahab Mine witnessed a halt in production until King Fahd Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud reopened it in 1983, marking the second mining period.
On May 15, 1987, Petromin decided to own the entire project and the mine became a public institution, 100 percent run by a Saudi administration. Then, in 1997, after its establishment, the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) took charge of the mine to become a launchpad for its mining business and realize the Kingdom’s vision that the mining sector would become the third pillar of Saudi industry after oil and gas.
Ma'aden's work at Mahd al-Dahab Mine
The Mahd Ad Dhahab Mine saw quantum leaps in production as Ma'aden took over, starting modern-day production in 1988. The underground mine contains more than forty km of tunnels, and excavations are carried out at a vertical depth of three hundred m from the surface.
Ma'aden expanded its gold production, which was its maiden extraction commodity, forming the basis for the growth of its business and the diversification of its products. Ma’aden operates six gold mines: al-Duwayhi, Mahd Ad Dhahab, al-Amar, Bilghah, Sukhaybarat, and al-Suq mines. The Carbon-In-Leach Factory produces raw and concentrate. The Mahd Ad Dhahab Mine produced approximately 31,000 ounces of gold in 2020. Moreover, it is the Kingdom's largest mine and contains a lot of precious metals.
Production activities proceed at the Mahd al-Dahab Mine, hand-in-hand with the implementation of expansion plans. The mine employs some 262 employees, 63 percent of whom are Saudis. Raw materials extracted between 1988 and 2020 amounted to about 5.989 million t, in addition to net gold production of 2.5 million ounces and a total of 9.8 million ounces of silver production.
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