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Ma’aden Resorts to International Expertise to Exploit Saudi Arabia’s Largest Discovered Resources

Saudi Arabia is implementing mining projects to exploit untapped wealth. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia is implementing mining projects to exploit untapped wealth. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Ma’aden Resorts to International Expertise to Exploit Saudi Arabia’s Largest Discovered Resources

Saudi Arabia is implementing mining projects to exploit untapped wealth. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia is implementing mining projects to exploit untapped wealth. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) is seeking to benefit from its relationships with its global partners, and to rely on the latest technologies, in order to raise the maximum capabilities and potential to work on the unexplored mineral resources project in Saudi Arabia, which is valued at $2.5 trillion, through an appropriate set of investments, sources have revealed.

In January, the Kingdom announced that it had raised its estimates of the value of untapped mineral resources, including phosphate, gold, minerals, and rare earths, to SAR9.4 trillion ($2.5 trillion), an increase from the previous estimation of SAR4.9 trillion ($1.3 trillion).

Ma’aden operates 17 mines and sites, employing more than 68,000 workers, and exports its products to more than 30 countries. It is also implementing a plan to increase the volume of its business within its 2040 strategy, in phosphate, aluminum, gold, and copper, in addition to exploring new minerals.

Mining has emerged as a vital sector for the Saudi economy, as it played a pivotal role in promoting growth and advancing development under Vision 2030. In this context, Ma’aden is working to consolidate the sector's position as the third pillar of the economy in the Kingdom.

The company is an important player in supporting the achievement of the goals of the country’s strategic roadmap, and has implemented one of the largest exploration programs in the world, investing in new technologies through its partnership with Barrick Gold and Ivanhoe Electric, to help unleash the enormous potential of mineral wealth in Saudi Arabia.

Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef recently announced the discovery of new mining resources with an estimated value of $2.5 trillion. This came during the third edition of the International Mining Conference, which was held in Riyadh, under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

The minister pointed to new discoveries of rare earth elements and transition metals, in addition to huge increases in phosphate ore and other minerals, such as copper, zinc, gold, and others.

The Ma’aden Company recently revealed the discovery of significant gold resource potential extending along a 100km strike from the existing Mansourah Massarah gold mine. This is the first find from the company’s extensive exploration program, launched in 2022, aimed at building Ma’aden’s production pipeline.

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Trump Goes to War with the Fed

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, seen in April 2025, said he considered Fed independence to be a matter of law. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, seen in April 2025, said he considered Fed independence to be a matter of law. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP
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Trump Goes to War with the Fed

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, seen in April 2025, said he considered Fed independence to be a matter of law. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, seen in April 2025, said he considered Fed independence to be a matter of law. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP

Donald Trump's simmering discontent with the US Federal Reserve boiled over this week, with the president threatening to take the unprecedented step of ousting the head of the fiercely independent central bank.

Trump has repeatedly said he wants rate cuts now to help stimulate economic growth as he rolls out his tariff plans, and has threatened to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell if he does not comply, putting the bank and the White House on a collision course that analysts warn could destabilize US financial markets.

"If I want him out, he'll be out of there real fast, believe me," Trump said Thursday, referring to Powell, whose second four-year stint as Fed chair ends in May 2026.
Powell has said he has no plans to step down early, adding this week that he considers the bank's independence over monetary policy to be a "matter of law."

"Clearly, the fact that the Fed chairman feels that he has to address it means that they are serious," KPMG chief economist Diane Swonk told AFP, referring to the White House.

Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research, said she thinks "they will come into conflict," but does not think "that the Fed is going to succumb to the political pressure."

Most economists agree that the administration's tariff plans -- which include a 10 percent "baseline" rate on imports from most countries -- will put upward pressure on prices and cool economic growth, at least in the short term.

That would keep inflation well away from the Fed's long-term target of two percent, and likely prevent policymakers from cutting rates in the next few months.

"They're not going to react because Trump posted that they should be cutting," Roth said in an interview, adding that doing so would be "a recipe for a disaster" for the US economy.

- Fed independence 'absolutely critical' -
Many legal scholars say the US president does not have the power to fire the Fed chair or any of his colleagues on the bank's 19-person rate-setting committee for any reason but cause.

The Fed system, created more than a century ago, is also designed to insulate the US central bank from political interference.

"Independence is absolutely critical for the Fed," said Roth. "Countries that do not have independent central banks have currencies that are notably weaker and interest rates that are notably higher."

Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told AFP that "we've had strong evidence that impairing central bank independence is a really bad idea."

- 'Can't control the bond market' -
One serious threat to the Fed's independence comes from an ongoing case in which the Trump administration has indicated it will seek to challenge a 1935 Supreme Court decision denying the US president the right to fire the heads of independent government agencies.

The case could have serious ramifications for the Fed, given its status as an independent agency whose leadership believes they cannot currently be fired by the president for any reason but cause.

But even if the Trump administration succeeds in court, it may soon run into the ultimate guardrail of Fed independence: The bond markets.

During the recent market turbulence unleashed by Trump's tariff plans, US government bond yields surged and the dollar fell, signaling that investors may not see the United States as the safe haven investment it once was.

Faced with the sharp rise in US Treasury yields, the Trump administration paused its plans for higher tariffs against dozens of countries, a move that helped calm the financial markets.

If investors believed the Fed's independence to tackle inflation was compromised, that would likely push up the yields on long-dated government bonds on the assumption that long-term inflation would be higher, and put pressure on the administration.

"You can't control the bond market. And that's the moral of the story," said Swonk.

"And that's why you want an independent Fed."