Hancock–Ma’aden Saudi JV: Nabita Ad-Duwayhi licences and drilling lens for mine planners
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Midana Exploration (Hancock Prospecting) and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) have formally received five Round 9 exploration licences in the Nabita Ad-Duwayhi gold belt at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh on 14 January 2026, cementing their Saudi joint venture. The licences cover greenfield gold targets in a known mineralised corridor, signalling a pipeline of drilling, resource definition and geometallurgical testwork in the Arabian Shield under Saudi Arabia’s new mining code.
Technical Brief
- Licence award occurred during the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh on 14 January 2026.
- Joint venture structure pairs Midana Exploration Pty Ltd (Hancock Prospecting) with Ma'aden as Saudi partner.
Our Take
Ma’aden’s planned US$110 billion spend over the next decade, highlighted in our recent Future Minerals Forum coverage, signals that JV structures like this Hancock–Ma’aden vehicle around the Nabita Ad-Duwayhi Gold-Belt are likely to be replicated across multiple Saudi gold and phosphate districts to share exploration and development risk.
Within our 656 Mining stories, Saudi Arabia appears mainly in pieces tied to state-backed megaprojects, so this gold-focused JV in the Kingdom suggests international partners such as Hancock Prospecting are now being pulled deeper into the upstream exploration phase rather than just large-scale downstream or industrial schemes.
Because this licence was awarded in Round 9 under Riyadh’s ongoing licensing programme, operators active in Saudi Arabia should expect increasingly competitive bidding for gold ground as Ma’aden accelerates its stated goal to triple gold output, tightening access to prime belts like Nabita Ad-Duwayhi for late entrants.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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