Ma'aden Completes Joint Venture with Barrick Gold for Saudi Arabian Copper Mine

Barrick Gold Corporation has announced that it has completed the 50/50 joint venture agreement with Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) for the Jabal Sayid copper mine in Saudi Arabia.

Jabal Sayid is expected to begin shipping low-cost concentrate in early 2016.

When fully operational, the mine is expected to produce 100 million pounds of copper in concentrate per year in its first full five years, with the potential to increase to 130 million pounds per year.

Kelvin Dushnisky, Co-President at Barrick Gold, said: "We are excited to move this project into production, working in collaboration with our new partners at Ma'aden."

Jim Gowans, another Co-President, added: "Jabal Sayid is a high-quality mine that will be contributing new, low-cost copper production to Barrick in just over a year's time."

Jabal Sayid had 1.4 billion pounds of copper in proven and probable reserves as of December 31, 2013. Further exploration work will be carried out within the mining license area and the exploration license area surrounding the mine with the aim of extending the mine life.