Oct 31, 2018
The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) is an excellent example of how a successful government-private sector partnership can deliver strong results that stimulate economic growth, job creation, and industrial diversification, Darren Davis, the company’s President and CEO, said on Thursday.
Participating in the ‘Market Forces’ panel discussions at the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference in Riyadh, Mr. Davis noted that Ma’aden had invested billions of dollars in building world-class and large-scale industrial projects since its IPO in 2008.
“Ma’aden is an interesting example of privatization and the role played by the government and private investors. Ma’aden has built a modern new mining industry in Saudi Arabia. The government, through the Public Investment Fund (PIF), made the initial capital investment in a sector that did not exist, and by maintaining its stake in the company, enabled it to raise significant capital from private investors and lenders. Both the government and the private investors have benefited from the growth that Ma’aden has achieved since then,” he said.
Ma’aden is completing its first decade of operations since its USD2.5 billion IPO, and today, Ma’aden is among the top global mining companies in terms of market capitalization.
“Ma’aden’s post-IPO investments and growth were achieved in coordination with major investment by the government in key infrastructure projects. These investments have delivered a strong mining industry in the Kingdom, which includes the production of precious and base metals and the development of entire aluminium and phosphate value chains. In achieving this, we have set an example of well-balanced public-private partnerships and joint venture partnerships with Saudi government bodies and leading international companies,” Mr. Davis said.
As Ma’aden marks its 10th anniversary since becoming a publicly listed company, the company has completed almost all of the projects planned its first phase of growth, and is now launching a new wave of expansions. “With the completion and operation of all these projects, Ma’aden has established itself as a sustainable and profitable global mining company that is beginning to deliver improved performance in manufacturing, global marketing and revenue and profit. We are now launching the next wave of Ma’aden expansion, and just a few days ago we have signed the first contract to build the first plant of our third phosphate complex,” Mr. Davis said.
On Monday, Ma’aden signed a 3.35 billion Saudi Riyal (USD 892 million) engineering, procurement and construction contract to build a new ammonia plant in Ras Al Khair. The plant is part of Ma’aden’s third large-scale phosphate complex (Phosphate 3), which is scheduled to be completed by 2025. It will increase Ma’aden’s phosphate production capacity to 9 million tonnes, securing the Kingdom’s global position as a top phosphate producer and exporter. The project is expected to cost 24 billion Saudi Riyals (USD 6.4 billion) and generate non-oil GDP growth of 25 billion Saudi Riyals (USD 6.7 billion) and approximately 7,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The panel at FII was led by H.E. Mohammed Al Tuwaijri, Saudi Minister of Economy, and the other speakers were: Bassem Awadallah, CEO, Tomoh Advisory, UAE and Kirill Dmitriev, CEO, Russian Direct Investment Fund.