Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) announced the start of trial production at Ad Duwayhi gold mine. This new mine is Ma'aden's largest and is a key part of the company's strategy to develop several new gold mine facilities in the central western region of Saudi Arabia, which contains much of the Kingdom's gold ore deposits. At full capacity, Ad Duwayhi is expected to produce 180,000 ounces of gold annually. With the addition of Ad duwayhi Ma'adens gold production capacity has increased to 340,000 ounces of gold annually. Commercial production is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2016. "This is a crucial step towards developing Ma'aden's portfolio with an additional large-scale gold project that provides meaningful shareholder value as well as sustainable local community development," said Khalid Al-Mudaifer, Ma'aden's CEO and President. He added that Ma'aden is implementing a long-term strategy of stable growth that delivers both market responsiveness and high impact project development. Ad Duwayhi will help create approximately 350 direct and indirect jobs in the surrounding area, and an estimated 600 jobs with contractors and service suppliers. A total of 30% of the mine's workforce will be composed of Saudi employees from within the nearby towns. Ad Duwayhi is one of the several new gold mines Ma'aden is developing in the Central Arabian Gold Region (CAGR) which are made feasible by the company's 430km treated wastewater pipeline, which brings treated wastewater from At Taif city to the mine site. This US$ 160 million pipeline enables Ma'aden to continue the development of new mining projects in the region without depleting large quantities of precious local water supplies. Ma'aden Gold and Base Metals Company, a fully- owned Ma'aden subsidiary, earlier signed a $270 million EPC contract with a Korean company to develop Ad Duwayhi, including provisions for operational support and manpower training. — SG
