Ma’aden announces reduction in profits and increase in production and capacity

The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) announces a net profit of SR605 million for the financial year 2015, a decrease of 55% compared to its 2014 financial net results.

Speaking on these results, Ma’aden CFO Khalid Al-Rowais pointed out that the company has been impacted with the decline of commodity prices, specifically in the aluminium business. However, looking at the overall performance of the year, Ma’aden has achieved the highest production levels in a number of sectors including phosphate where production exceeded 2.6 million tons of phosphate fertilizer compared to 2.4 million tons in 2014. The company’s aluminium sales also reached 836,000 tons of aluminium compared to 663,000 in 2014 while its gold production jumped to 164,000 ounces compared to 154,000 ounces of the previous year. Al-Rowais also enumerated a number of project milestones including the successful trial production of Ad Duwayhi mine, Ma’aden’s biggest gold mine located near Raniah City in Makkah province. As well, in partnership with Barrick, Ma’aden has started the trial production of the Kingdom’s largest copper mine – Jabal Sayid, located in Madinah province.

Al Rowais assured that the diversity of Ma’aden’s portfolio which includes gold, aluminium, phosphate, copper and industrial minerals as well as the competitive production cost of its facilities from a global cost curve perspective, will enable Ma’aden to strengthen its market position and access new markets. Al-Rowais also confirmed that the executive management is working on cost reduction programs that focus on sustainable reduction in its spending by increasing the productivity and efficiency of its mines and processing facilities. The company is also moving towards consolidated services and empowering its IT to achieve cost-efficiency, thereby enhancing Ma’aden’s competitiveness.