The Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef met with managers and employees during an inspection visit to the Kingdom’s oldest and largest gold mine.
During a tour of the factory and museum at the Mahd Ad Dhahab site in Madinah region, the minister was briefed on expansion plans for the operation which is affiliated to the Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Ma’aden).
Accompanied by industry and mining sector officials, Al-Khorayef was shown around smelting furnaces and the old mine’s museum and listened to a presentation on gold. He also met some of the 262 mine workers, of which 63 percent are Saudis.
Mining activities at Mahd Ad Dhahab can be traced back 3,000 years to the time of the reign of Sheba in Yemen and the era of Prophet Sulaiman.
More recent commercial mining of minerals including gold, silver, copper, and zinc began in the 1930s, before entering a new phase during the rule of the late King Fahd in 1983.
Between 1988 and last year, approximately 5,989 million tons of raw materials were extracted from the mine which produced 2.5 million ounces of gold and 9.8 million ounces of silver.
