Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and Saudi Aramco have signed a shareholders’ agreement to form a joint venture (JV). Maaden will hold a 51% stake in the JV, while Aramco will own the remaining 49%.

Before signing the shareholders’ agreement, the two Saudi state-owned companies signed a non-binding heads of agreement in January 2025 aimed at establishing the JV.

“Combining the strengths of two leaders in their respective fields, the JV will focus on copper and other minerals critical to the energy transition,” the two parties said in a joint statement.

The JV will focus on exploration across Zone 4, also known as the Transition Zone, within the Arabian Platform in Saudi Arabia. Spanning approximately 182,000 square kilometres – nearly 10% of the kingdom’s total land area – the expected exploration area stretches along a 100-kilometre-wide corridor running parallel to the Arabian Shield.

“It represents a major new opportunity for mineral discovery in the kingdom,” Maaden and Aramco said.

Copper, which is increasingly significant for electric vehicles, power networks, energy storage and renewable energy systems, will be a main focus of the JV.

Copper accounts for more than 20% of the $1.2tn mined-metals market. The copper market is currently valued at about $250bn and is projected to grow to more than $400bn by 2035.

The JV will also explore for other energy transition minerals, including zinc, lead and rare earth elements, “that are expected to be crucial to industries of the future”.

“Leveraging advanced computational algorithms, [artificial intelligence] AI, and high-performance computing, the JV intends to target areas most likely to contain copper and valuable minerals, accelerating the path from regional screening to target definition and discovery. This is expected to support long-term sector development, reinforce the kingdom’s role in the global minerals value chain, and help meet rising demand for transition minerals,” the partners said.