Ma'aden's exploration projects are located within the prospective Arabian Shield area and are grouped into two regions, namely the Central Arabian Gold Region (CAGR) and the Northern Shield Region sometimes referred as the Sukhaybarat- Bulghah area.

Since the grant of the exploration license for the Ad Duwayhi prospect in 1998, Ma'aden has conducted an extensive exploration programme throughout targeted areas in the CAGR which has resulted in the delineation of six advanced exploration projects: Ad Duwayhi, Zalim, As Suk, Ar Rjum, Mansourah and Masarrah.

Ad Duwayhi
Between 1999 and 2003 Ma'aden carried out a staged resource definition diamond core-drilling program with total drilling advance of 60, 000 meters in more than 550 holes. As the result of the Ma'aden drilling programs a significant high-grade vein mineralization was outlined. The deposit is open at depth and to the southwest and there is potential to increase the high-grade.

Mansourah Project
The Mansourah deposit is located some 460km northeast of Jeddah and 77km south east of the town of Zalim and 35km south of the Jeddah-Riyadh expressway. A total diamond core drilling advance of 65,000 m in 317 holes and 20 reverse circulation (“RC”) holes have been completed to date. 

Masarrah Gold Project
The Masarrah deposit is located approximately 6.5km north-west of Mansourah. A total of 32,844m of diamond core drilling in 229 holes has been completed.
The Mansourah and Masarrah projects are located within 6.5km of each other and Ma'aden envisages that ore from each site will be trucked to a centrally located plant and the deposits will be developed as one project.

Ar Rjum Project
The Ar Rjum project situated inside the Mahazat Assaid Conservation area is located approximately 300km from Jeddah and 25km south of the town of Al Muwayh on the Jeddah–Riyadh expressway.

The project location comprises several prospects, including Wasema, Um-Naam, Gazal, Al Maha, and Ar Rjum Zinc. Between 2004 and end of June 2007 a total of 455 resource definition diamond core holes with total length of 65,322m were drilled on the two main Ar Rjum prospects of Wasema and Um-Naam.

As Suk
The As Suk gold prospect is located within the area covered by the Ash Shakhtaliyah licence. It is envisaged that the As Suk prospect will be developed together with the other CAGR properties.

Zalim
The Zalim gold prospect is located approximately 460km east of Jeddah, about half way along the Jeddah-Riyadh expressway. It is envisaged that ore from the Zalim prospect will be trucked to the As Suk site for processing one this is developed.

Ma'aden holds a license area of 1,886.77 km² which represents the most prospective ground around the existing mines and known deposits in the Northern Arabian Shield area. Ma'aden's most advanced exploration projects within the Northern Arabian Shield Area are the Bulghah North and Humaymah prospects.

Bulghah North
Following a series of drilling programmes, the discovery of a significant gold mineralisation at Bulghah North was confirmed. Drilling results have confirmed that the Bulghah North mineralised zone is similar to the Bulghah mine style of mineralisation.

As of July 2007, 483 RC holes with a total length of 38,240m and 35 diamond core holes with total length of 5100 m had been completed. Subject to the successful completion of its ongoing evaluation programme Ma'aden proposes to bring the Bulghah North deposit into production as an expansion to the current operation at Bulghah.

Humaymah
The Humaymah gold prospect is located 35km southeast of the Bulghah mine and is the second grassroots gold prospect discovered in the Northern Arabian Shield area by Ma'aden. To date 76 RC holes with a total length of 3,119m and 27 diamond core holes with a total length of 4,115m have been completed. Resource definition drilling is currently being undertaken on this prospect.

Ma'aden is exploring for and evaluating new mineral resources in Saudi Arabia for supply to local and international markets. The Company is actively evaluating the potential to enrich its mineral portfolio from identified deposits of industrial minerals including refractory clay and low-grade bauxite, sillimanite type minerals, graphite, bentonite and attapulgite, diatomite, silica, garnets, wollastonite, and brine type minerals.