Ivanhoe Electric and Maaden Add 1,345 Square Kilometers of New Exploration Licenses to Strengthen Exploration Pipeline in Saudi Arabian Joint Venture Musayna’ah Licenses Include 946 Square Kilometers Exhibiting Strong Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold Characteristics
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September 4, 2025
Ivanhoe Electric and Maaden Add 1,345 Square Kilometers of
New Exploration Licenses to Strengthen Exploration Pipeline
in Saudi Arabian Joint Venture
Musayna’ah Licenses Include 946 Square Kilometers
Exhibiting Strong Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold Characteristics
Mahd Area Licenses Include 399 Square Kilometers Adjacent
to Maaden’s Mahd Ad Dhahab Gold Mine
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Ivanhoe Electric Inc. (“Ivanhoe Electric”) (NYSE American:
IE; TSX: IE) Executive Chairman Robert Friedland and President and Chief
Executive Officer Taylor Melvin are pleased to announce that Saudi Arabian
Mining Company Maaden (“Maaden”) (Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul: 1211) has
made available an additional 1,345 square kilometers of exploration licenses to
Ivanhoe Electric’s 50/50 joint venture (the “Joint Venture”) with Maaden (Figure
1).
The Musayna’ah Licenses demonstrate a significant footprint of Iron Oxide-
Copper-Gold (“IOCG”)-type alteration and mineralization. The Mahd Area
Licenses are adjacent to Maaden’s Mahd Ad Dhahab gold mine, and host shallow
gold mineralization with the potential for precious and base metal mineralization
beneath the limits of shallow historical drilling.
Mr. Friedland commented: “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now become one of
the most prospective and active frontiers for mineral exploration anywhere on the
planet. That is a result of its dynamic leadership and its Vision 2030, which looks
to make mining a key pillar of the Saudi economy through creating extraordinary
opportunities to explore for critical metals in one of the most underexplored, yet
richly endowed, geological terrains on Earth. We are proud to be at the forefront
of this opportunity with our Joint Venture partner, Maaden. Together with
Maaden, we have already explored hundreds of square kilometers of ground with
our powerful Typhoon™ geophysical surveying technology. We are thrilled that
Maaden is today making available to our Joint Venture further prospective lands,
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as we work together with our talented teams of professionals to unlock the vast
mineral potential in Saudi Arabia.”
Mr. Melvin commented: “Maaden’s contribution of new, prospective exploration
licenses to our Joint Venture is a testament to their confidence in our technology-
driven exploration platform, and our Joint Venture’s success in efficiently
deploying that technology across large areas in Saudi Arabia. Our Joint Venture’s
team of experienced geologists and geophysicists is actively surveying new
areas in the Arabian Shield, rapidly converting data into drill-ready targets. The
addition of these new exploration licenses enhances our outlook for future
discoveries.”
The Musayna’ah Licenses, totaling 946 square kilometers, encompass an area
exhibiting the characteristics and widespread mineralization and alteration
assemblages typical of IOCG deposits. Exploration work by Maaden has defined
several large areas of highly anomalous copper in soil geochemistry, where
earlier exploration drilling intersected widespread low-grade copper
mineralization, and localized higher-grade domains associated with structures
(Figure 2). Only a small portion of the approximately seven-kilometer-long main
anomalous footprint has been explored.
The La Huf, Mahd, and Baara Exploration Licenses (the “Mahd Area Licenses”)
comprise 399 square kilometers adjacent to Maaden's Mahd Ad Dhahab gold
mine, known as the “Cradle of Gold”, and which has been in production for over
3,000 years (Figure 3). Historical exploration by Maaden included shallow drilling
primarily aimed at defining near-surface gold deposits, which intersected gold
mineralization with associated copper and zinc. The licenses are prospective for
additional precious and base metal mineralization beneath the limits of shallow
historical drilling.
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Figure 1. Plan view map of southwest Saudi Arabia, showing the new Exploration
Licenses, existing Exploration Licenses and Exploration License Applications,
and licenses surveyed to date by Typhoon™.
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Figure 2. Plan view map of the Musayna’ah Licenses and copper in soil
geochemistry.
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Figure 3. Plan view map of the Mahd Area Licenses adjacent to Maaden’s “Cradle
of Gold” mine and gold in soil geochemistry.
Multiple Typhoon™ units are active across the Arabian Shield with 4,000
meters of additional drilling planned for the rest of 2025
To date in 2025, the Joint Venture has completed approximately 510 square
kilometers of geophysical surveys using Ivanhoe Electric’s advanced Typhoon™
system and drilled four holes totaling approximately 2,100 meters across the Al
Amar Belt. Drilling at Al Amar hit narrow intervals of low- to high-grade base and
precious metals mineralization associated with Typhoon™-identified anomalies at
depths of up to one kilometer.
For the balance of 2025, the Joint Venture currently plans continuous Typhoon™
surveying at Wadi Bidah and Musayna’ah licenses, with the Mahd Area Licenses
already having received the first 31 square kilometers of Typhoon™ surveying at
the La Huf license. This surveying is in addition to ongoing geological work,
geochemical sampling, ground gravity and ground magnetic surveying.
Detailed planning is underway for a drill program of up to 4,000 meters at the
Wadi Bidah area, where fieldwork and Typhoon™ surveys have identified a multi-
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kilometer trend prospective for volcanic-hosted massive sulfide-type
mineralization.
Qualified Person
Disclosures of a scientific or technical nature included in this news release have
been reviewed, verified, and approved by Charles N. Forster, P.Geo., who is a
Qualified Person as defined by Regulation S-K, Subpart 1300 promulgated by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and by Canadian National Instrument
43-101. Mr. Forster is a Senior Advisor to Ivanhoe Electric.
About Ivanhoe Electric
We are a United States domiciled minerals exploration company with a focus on
developing mines from mineral deposits principally located in the United States.
We seek to support American supply chain independence by finding and
delivering copper and other critical metals vital to advanced manufacturing,
infrastructure development, technology, and national security. We use our
powerful Typhoon™ geophysical surveying system, together with advanced data
analytics provided by our 94.3% owned subsidiary, Computational Geosciences
Inc. (“CGI”), to accelerate and de-risk the mineral exploration process as we seek
to discover new deposits of critical metals that may otherwise be undetectable by
traditional exploration technologies. We believe the United States is significantly
underexplored and has the potential to yield major new discoveries of critical
metals. Our mineral exploration efforts focus on copper as well as other metals
including nickel, cobalt, platinum group elements, gold and silver. Through the
advancement of our portfolio of critical metals exploration projects, headlined by
the Santa Cruz Copper Project in Arizona, we intend to contribute to domestic
supply by developing resources that support industrial and strategic sectors. We
also operate a 50/50 joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Company
("Maaden") to explore for minerals on ~48,500 km of underexplored Arabian
Shield in Saudi Arabia. Finally, in 2024, we established an exploration alliance
with BHP Mineral Resources Inc. (“BHP”), a subsidiary of BHP Group Limited, to
search for critical minerals in the United States.
Website: www.ivanhoeelectric.com
About Maaden
Maaden is the largest multi-commodity mining and metals company in the Middle
East and among the fastest-growing mining companies in the world, with
revenues of SAR 40.2 billion (US$10.7 billion) in 2022. Maaden is developing the
mining industry into the third pillar of the Saudi economy in line with Vision 2030
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and aims to be a role model in responsible and sustainable operations. Maaden
operates 17 mines and sites, has 6,000+ direct employees and exports products
to over 30 countries. Maaden is embarking on massive growth over the next 18
years across phosphate, aluminum, gold, copper and new minerals. Maaden is
also Ivanhoe Electric’s third largest stockholder holding approximately 8.9% of
the currently issued common stock.
Website www.maaden.com
Contact Information
Mike Patterson
Vice President, Investor Relations and Business Development
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 1-480-601-7878
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Ivanhoe Electric’s Executive Chairman Robert Friedland: @robert_ivanhoe
Ivanhoe Electric: @ivanhoeelectric
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Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation FD.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this news release constitute “forward-looking statements” or
“forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable U.S. and Canadian
securities laws. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of Ivanhoe Electric, its projects, or industry results, to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by
the use of words such as “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “expect”, “believe”,
“plan”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “scheduled”, “forecast”, “predict”, “target”, “project” and
other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”,
“would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect
Ivanhoe Electric’s current expectations regarding future events, performance and
results and speak only as of the date of this news release.
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Such statements in this news release include, without limitation: the potential for a
mineral discovery at depth or otherwise on exploration licenses in Saudi Arabia,
continuous Typhoon™ surveying at Wadi Bidah and Musayna’ah licenses for the
balance of 2025, completion of drilling of 4,000 meters at the Wadi Bidah area in 2025
and the results of surveying, drilling and other exploration activities.
Forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and
on information currently available to management. Such statements are subject to
significant risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those
expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements due to various factors, including
changes in the prices of copper or other metals Ivanhoe Electric is exploring for; the
results of exploration and drilling activities and/or the failure of exploration programs or
studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued
exploration, studies, development or operations; the final assessment of exploration
results and information that is preliminary; the significant risk and hazards associated
with any future mining operations, extensive regulation by the U.S. government as well
as local governments; changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by
applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with Ivanhoe Electric to perform
as agreed; and the impact of political, economic and other uncertainties associated with
operating in foreign countries, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global
economy. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in
conjunction with the other cautionary statements and risk factors described in Ivanhoe
Electric’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed and other disclosures with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission.
No assurance can be given that such future results will be achieved. Forward-looking
statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Ivanhoe Electric cautions you
not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Subject to applicable
securities laws, Ivanhoe Electric does not assume any obligation to update or revise the
forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances
occurring after the date of this news release, and Ivanhoe Electric expressly disclaims
any requirement to do so.