Engineering
Mansourah-Massarah: The gold flagship
At the end of 2023, Ma’aden’s newest and most ambitious gold mine, Mansourah-Massarah, was commissioned. Within months, it is expected to reach full capacity and claim its place as KSA’s largest gold mine, also contributing to Ma’aden’s biggest gold output.
Mansourah-Massarah is more than just another mine (actually, they are two different mines). For Saudi Arabia, it is a symbol of progress and sophistication due to its rapid construction. For some engineering firms, it became a platform to showcase their technological capabilities and deepen their partnership with Ma’aden; for others, it served as the vessel to establish a foothold in the country. For Global Business Reports, it served as a case study to understand local dynamics and as a focal point for connecting the dots across the industry.
In April 2019, Ma’aden Base Metals and New Minerals Company (BMNM) awarded the EPC contract to an international consortium comprising of Finland’s Metso Outotec (today Metso) and India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for SAR 2,272.5 million (around US$606 million). Metso provided the gold extraction and beneficiation technology, while L&T oversaw the EPC construction, including end-to-end engineering, plant design and commissioning.
Dip Kishore Sen, ECOM member & advisor to CMD development projects & metals & minerals at L&T, highlighted the project’s importance: “We ensured the project’s smooth execution by mobilizing the requisite Plant & Machinery, large workforce, and very experienced engineering team handling all execution and technical challenges. Today, Mansourah-Massarah is a flagship project in Saudi Arabia.”
EPC contracts account for 65% of L&T’s operations, with a big portion coming from overseas, particularly from KSA through projects like Mansourah-Massarah.
Mansourah-Massarah’s sophistication and size spilled over and translated into opportunities for other companies. Smaller firms like Istanbul-based Tomarok Engineering also found a platform for growth and to make themselves a place in KSA’s market. After collaborating with Metso and Bechtel in Abu Dhabi, Tomarok secured its place in the project. “We have established ourselves as a valuable solution partner in the mining sector, working closely with major players like Metso Outotec since 2010. While companies like Ma’aden, Bechtel and Sandvik are industry giants, we focus on niche tasks and specialized expertise,” said Mehmetcan Akyüz, founder and managing director of Tomarok Engineering.
“With limited opportunities elsewhere in the GCC, KSA stands out as the hub for the most ambitious projects, with at least US$100 billion being invested in the coming years across various sectors to reduce reliance on oil and diversify the economy.”
Dip Kishore Sen Director, Senior Vice President and Head - Infrastructure, LARSEN & TOUBRO
Tomarok started with engineering support before transitioning to on-site work under Metso. The company’s responsibilities included construction supervision, cold commissioning and hot commissioning, transitioning the project from its CapEx phase to its OpEx phase in 2024.
“Being on-site for those years offered valuable insights and connections, such as working closely with Ma’aden, a major mining company, and collaborating with Bechtel, the PMC, for the project. Witnessing firsthand the rise of investments and meeting key industry players emphasized the potential of the Saudi market. This experience opened doors and secured an extension of the maintenance contract through Metso for two additional years, keeping our team engaged at Mansourah-Massarah’s gold plant,” reflected Akyüz when interviewed by GBR.
DRA’s entry into KSA predates the Mansourah-Massarah project. The company’s debut in the country is also linked to Ma’aden, though through the Ad Duwayhi gold plant, the largest at the time, according to Rashid Kader, EVP operations for the EMEA region and president for Saudi Arabia.
Kader explained that the plant, originally built by another engineering company, failed to meet its design targets. Rather than focusing on past shortcomings, the company rolled up its sleeves and worked closely with Ma’aden to modify and optimize the plant. “Within a year or two, we had it running above its nameplate capacity, and it became a flagship operation for Ma’aden. Even now, the plant remains a major part of their gold production commitment. The fact that this project has been running for close to 10 years speaks for itself,” Kader added.
While Ma’aden’s projects dominate the attention of many engineering firms, Saudi Arabia’s mining landscape is expanding. Recent developments like AMAK’s Moyeath orebody, the Guyan gold mine, and future projects such as the Khnaiguiyah zinc-copper project a collaboration between Moxico and Ajlan Bros demonstrate the kingdom’s growing ambitions in the sector. “We completed a successful project with AMAK, where SENET was engaged as the EPCM partner and undertook the construction on a self-perform basis, working closely with the client to ensure quality delivery. The project is now fully commissioned and operating well. Another exciting project is with Moxico and Ajlan through SENET, where we are updating their BFS for the project and planning to move into the EPCM phase in early 2025,” concluded Kader.
“One challenge in Saudi Arabi is space, as solar or wind farms need a lot of land. A more flexible solution could be a hybrid approach, gradually adding renewable energy as the mine develops, allowing the system to grow with the project.”
Alexandre Eykerman, Energy Business Director, Middle East & Managing Director, Wärtsilä UAE
Desert drama: tailings, tech, and millions saved
For Australian-based ATC Williams, their journey with Ma’aden’s Mansourah-Massarah started back in 2017, as Arash Roshdieh, international operations manager and senior principal engineering, told GBR: “The Mansourah-Massarah project began in 2017 when an EPC contractor approached us to review and complete the initial design for a central thickened discharge system. ATC Williams reviewed the initial design and made improvements. Although we usually prefer to work directly with mining companies, we accepted this project because the Central Thickened Discharge (CTD) scheme is an area where we believe we can contribute significantly. We reworked the entire design, completed the detailed planning, and broadly oversaw the construction of Stage One, which proceeded smoothly.”
Roshdieh highlighted how the CTD reduced water loss through evaporation compared to conventional methods and that this success has led to a second project with Ma’aden, for which they recently submitted a proposal, recommending switching to a CTD system to reduce costs: “We confirmed that switching to this method would save the client tens of millions of dollars over the project’s lifetime,” added Roshdieh.
The Australian-based company is now exploring a new frontier in tailings technology, ‘Ultra Paste’, a hybrid of thickening and filtration. While not yet applied in any projects, Roshdieh commented on its benefits, particularly in water-scarce regions like KSA: “High-end technologies prove particularly useful in places like Saudi Arabia, where the high cost of water makes advanced dewatering solutions more feasible and appealing,” he concluded.
In 2023, MGBM awarded a SAR 105 million (US$18 million) EPC contract to the consortium of Darkstone Arabia and ATC Williams for the development of Phase Two of the Mansourah-Massarah project, which involved the installation of tailings storage facilities and wastewater management systems. “The TSF spans 2.5 million m2, making it the largest of its kind in Saudi Arabia. Managing earthworks, lining, mechanical, and air systems on such a scale required meticulous planning. Completing it within five months is a remarkable achievement and reflects our high standards for project execution,” commented Haytham Ahmad, CEO at Darkstone.
Now, both companies are working on Phase 3: “we are set to start the Stage 3 ramp and distribution system upgrades in November 2024,” added Ahmad, who also commented that Darkstone has an EPC contract at Al Jalamid Phosphate mine from Ma’aden.
“When it comes to climate change, the elephant in the room is heat, accounting for more than 50 percent of global energy use. That is more than electricity and transport combined, so it is essential that we decarbonize industrial process heat.”
Rod MacGregor, CEO, GlassPoint
Sweating gold and aluminum
When L&T took charge of the EPC aspects of Mansourah-Massarah, they tasked Wärtsilä to supply engineering, equipment and technical advisory services for a 58 MW hybrid power plant at the site. Speaking from the company’s UAE branch, Alexandre Eykerman, Wärtsilä’s energy business director for the Middle East and managing director for the UAE, explained that the company provided a hybrid power plant equipped with a 32TS engine, allowing the integration of PV solar power: “The challenge with this project was to supply reliable and sustainable power to the mine and ensure maximized use of solar energy without risking any loss in performance. The mine is located in a remote region where temperatures can reach up to 55°C. The project needed a long-term infrastructure investment instead of just renting smaller, temporary power generation units. Ma’aden was looking for a power generation system that could last and keep up with the gold mine’s 12-year production cycle,” shared Eykerman.
Incorporating sustainable energy solutions into energy-intensive sectors like mining remains a global challenge. On one side lies the capital factor; on the other, the inherent intermittency of renewable sources. Wärtsilä’s engines provided stability by managing fluctuations in solar generation, ensuring a reliable and consistent energy supply.
On the economic side, Eykerman acknowledged that while the upfront costs for renewable energy integration are higher, the long-term benefits far surpass them: “Solar power, for example, can significantly cut down fuel costs, which make up a big share of operational expenses. This makes the mining operations more cost-effective and sustainable in the long run,” he concluded.
“When it comes to climate change, the elephant in the room is actually heat. Heat accounts for more than 50% of global energy use,” remarked Rod MacGregor, CEO of GlassPoint.
GlassPoint, specialized in using sunlight to generate heat, recently announced an agreement with Ma’aden to develop what MacGregor called the “world’s largest industrial process heat system.” This ambitious project for Ma’aden’s alumina-bauxite complex will involve a 1,500-megawatt solar heat system valued at US$1.5 billion. By providing steam to power the refinery, they want to decarbonize its operations.
When asked about the costs of renewable sources, MacGregor emphasized the cost advantage of directly generating heat instead of relying on electricity from solar photovoltaic systems, which can triple the costs in industrial settings: “We concentrate sunlight to create heat. In our case, we use giant mirrors, each about six meters across. They focus sunlight onto a pipe; the pipe becomes 450 °C hot, and we flow a liquid salt through that pipe. When the salt heats up, we store it in a tank for use day and night. We then remove the salt from the tank and put it through a heat exchanger to make steam. The salt then goes back into a cold tank to go through the solar array again the next day. It is a very simple process and very inexpensive,” he explained.
The project is expected to start construction by 2026 and aims to cut around 600,000 t/y of CO2 emissions, making a major step toward more sustainable industrial practices.
Article header image by WILLIAM at Adobe Stock