Overview

Mine Type	Open Pit
Status	Active
Commodities	Gold
Mining Method	Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start	...
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	The mine consists of the Mansourah and Massarah resources, which are being developed as conventional open-pit mines. It is the newest, largest, and most technologically advanced gold mine in Saudi Arabia. Mansourah-Massarah is Maaden newest gold mine that commenced pre stripping operations during the fourth quarter of 2022 and reached final plant commissioning at the end of 2023. In full production, it will be the largest gold mine in Saudi Arabia, processing four million tonnes of gold ore per year with an average production of 250,000 ounces annually over the life of mine.

Deposit type

• Vein / narrow vein
• Breccia pipe / Stockwork

Summary:

The Masarrah and Mansourah open pitable resources are members of an ~50 km long, north-south oriented string of gold deposits and occurrences distributed along the major regional Ad Dafinah thrust fault zone.

At Mansourah, the thrusted contact between the Siham Group schists and younger, less deformed, Bani Ghavy Group is marked by a variably altered serpentinised ultramafic unit and diorite and quartz-feldspar porphyry intrusives. The thrust zone is repeatedly offset by sinistral strike-slip faults of the Najd System which also offset mineralisation and the youngest intrusives. The serpentinised ultramafic is commonly listwaenite-altered to an assemblage of quartz-carbonate-fuchsite. Remnants of the serpentinite occur along the margins of the listwaenite, particularly along the footwall side.

Gold mineralisation is closely associated with quartz veins and breccia zones that are preferentially developed within listwaenite. Mineralisation is developed over thicknesses of from a few metres up to 60 m, both within quartz veins and listwaenite wall rock, with good continuity over a strike length of approximately one kilometre. Quartz veins and mineralisation are developed to a lesser extent within the diorite and porphyry intrusives which have been deformed and are sub parallel to the regional structural grain. Gold mineralisation has also been intersected within footwall greywackes and shales of the Bani Ghavy Group, but forms narrower and less continuous zones compared to that in the listwaenite. High grade zones are associated with an assemblage of chlorite-graphite-pyrite-arsenopyrite in fractures or in brecciated quartz veins, as disseminated, and as semi-massive pyrite-arsenopyrite veinlets in sheared diorite. Low grade zones are associated with networks of centimetre scale quartz stockworks in listwaenite-breccia zones and with disseminated pyrite-arsenopyrite in almost all fractured rocks including the younger footwall sediment and quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes. The deposit is thought to represent intrusive related orogenic vein and disseminated type gold mineralisation (SRK Consulting, 2007).

At Masarrah, the same geological and structural setting as described for Mansourah above, and accompanying gold mineralisation has been traced over a strike length of 3 km. Mineralisation is hosted largely within listwaenite and is closely associated with stylolitic sulphidic quartz veins. It has been suggested Mansourah and Masarrah deposits represent a single deposit displaced by 6.5km across Najd Fault System structures. Mineralisation is developed over similar widths to strongly associated with quartz veins and breccia zones preferentially developed within listwaenite. Mineralisation is developed over significant widths Mansourah both within the quartz veins and listwaenite wall rock, and shows good continuity over a strike length of ~1 km (SRK Consulting, 2007).

Mining Methods

- subscription is required.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

- subscription is required.

Production

Commodity	Units	2024	2023
Gold	oz	....	....

Operational metrics

Metrics	2023
Annual production capacity	....

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Jun 21, 2024
.......................	.......................		Jun 27, 2024
.......................	.......................		Jun 21, 2024
.......................	.......................		Jun 21, 2024