Ma'aden and Aramco to Form a Joint Venture Exploring Copper and Transition Minerals Across 10% of Saudi Arabia

Press release summary: On Aug 18, 2026, Saudi Aramco and Maaden (Saudi Arabian Mining Company) announced an agreement to establish a joint venture — 51 percent Maaden, 49 percent Aramco — dedicated to exploring copper and other minerals critical to the energy transition across Zone-4 (the Transition Zone) of the Arabian Platform: about 182,000 square kilometers, nearly 10 percent of Saudi Arabia's total land area.

RIYADH, Aug 18, 2026 — Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco and mining firm Maaden have agreed to establish a joint venture focused on mineral exploration across nearly 10 percent of the Kingdom's total land area, according to a company statement reported by Arab News. The venture is expected to be owned 51 percent by Maaden and 49 percent by Aramco and will concentrate on copper and other minerals critical to the energy transition, building on plans first announced in January 2025.

Terms of the joint venture

The agreement brings together Maaden's mining and exploration expertise and the geological and geophysical database that Aramco has accumulated in the Kingdom over more than 90 years. Key parameters of the project:

• ownership: 51 percent Maaden, 49 percent Aramco;
• exploration area: about 182,000 sq. kilometers — nearly 10 percent of Saudi Arabia's total land area;
• target minerals: copper and other minerals critical to the energy transition;
• geography: Zone-4, also known as the Transition Zone, within the Arabian Platform, extending along a 100-km-wide belt parallel to the Arabian Shield;
• the project builds on plans first announced by the two companies in January 2025.

Exploration area: Zone-4 of the Arabian Platform

The joint venture will explore Zone-4, also known as the Transition Zone, within the Arabian Platform. Covering about 182,000 square kilometers, the zone extends along an area roughly 100 kilometers wide, parallel to the Arabian Shield — the geological province where Maaden is already advancing one of the world's largest single-jurisdiction exploration programs.

Statements of the executives

Aramco: ninety years of geological data

"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," said Saleh Al-Saleh, Aramco vice president of transition minerals.

He added that Maaden's expertise, the partners' people, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence are expected to play a pivotal role in accelerating the discovery of key transition minerals at low cost.

Maaden: a new area for exploration

Darryl Clark, Maaden Executive Vice President for Exploration, said his company 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.

"This joint venture would take that ambition into a new area. By combining Maaden's exploration and development expertise with Aramco's extraordinary knowledge of the Arabian Platform, we would have an opportunity to move faster, explore smarter, and create new opportunities to discover the minerals that will power the energy transition," Clark added.

Mining in the Saudi economy

The Kingdom's mineral wealth is estimated at more than SR9.3 trillion ($2.5 trillion). As part of its efforts to diversify the economy under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia has identified the extraction of copper, gold and rare earth elements as priority areas, while aiming to increase mining's contribution to gross domestic product to SR240 billion.

As part of efforts to expand exploration and develop domestic mineral value chains, the Saudi government put 50,000 sq. km forward for mineral exploration in 2025, according to the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources. The new Aramco–Maaden joint venture adds the largest single exploration area yet announced in the Kingdom to that pipeline.

Background

The shareholders' agreement formalises the plans first announced in January 2025. Aramco published confirmation of the signing on its corporate news page: https://www.aramco.com/en/news-media/news/2026/aramco-and-maaden-sign-shareholders-agreement

Company and contacts

Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and Saudi Aramco — joint venture for mineral exploration in Zone-4 of the Arabian Platform.

Contact: corporate communications of Maaden and Saudi Aramco. The source article by Arab News, based on the companies' statement, published no corporate phone or e-mail contacts; none are invented here.

Website: https://www.aramco.com/