RIYADH: Saudi Arabian Mining Co., known as Ma’aden wants to be the third pillar of the Kingdom’s economy, as efforts to diversify the nation’s revenue sources progress steadily in line with the visions outlined in Vision 2030, a top official said. Speaking during a session of the Saudi Green Initiative, happening on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, company CEO Robert Wilt said that Ma’aden is successfully pursuing its journey aimed at turning the mining sector a strong contributor to the Kingdom’s economy. “Ma’aden’s market cap is now probably $50 billion and it is still counting,” said Wilt. Reiterating the words of Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef, Wilt noted that Ma’aden will help find mineral resources in the Kingdom worth $1.3 trillion. The CEO further noted that the company commissioned a gold mine and an ammonia plant in the past 10 months. According to Wilt, obtaining a mining license in Saudi Arabia is free from hassled regulatory pressures, and the Kingdom offers a positive business environment for companies operating in the sector. Talking about environmental sustainability, Wilt noted that Ma’aden is strictly following environmental, social, and governance principles, despite operating in an extraction industry. “Ma’aden eyes carbon reduction and groundwater reduction in its operations. My board and our investors are deadly serious about ensuring sustainability,” he said. He added: “We are doing everything from an ESG perspective. This week alone, we signed a carbon circular to take carbon out of our process and inject it into food and beverage.” He added that Ma’aden is adopting technologies to reduce the entire turnaround time of the mining process. “The timeline for exploration and discovery to setting up a processing plant usually takes 20 years, and it needs to be 6 to 9 years now. Every aspect of the industry needs to be changed significantly. It is being digitized. We need artificial intelligence. We need smart people, and that is going to be a huge opportunity for talents in the Kingdom,” said Wilt. Recalling his moments in Saudi Arabia during his tenure with the US Army, Wilt said that he is proud to be in the Kingdom, and become a part of history by playing a role in materializing the goals set as a part of Vision 2030.