Ma'aden was formed by Royal Decree in 1997 to facilitate the development of Saudi Arabia's mineral resources. In 2004, the Cabinet adopted the new Mineral Investment Law in a step helped in the development of the mineral sector and the infrastructure of the railway and the port, which enabled Ma’aden to easily transfer its products to market.
Ma’aden was wholly owned by the Saudi Government before 50% of its shares were floated on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) in 2008.
Initially Ma'aden's activities focused on expanding its active gold business which now includes several mines throughout KSA: Mahd Ad Dahab, Bulghah, Sukhaybarat, Al Amar, As-Suq and Ad Duwayhi mines. In addition, there is a probable expansion by adding mines of Ar Rajoum, Massarah, and Mansourah.
Ma’aden has expanded its activities to cover phosphate. In 2007, it founded “Ma'aden's Phosphate” as a joint venture with SABIC – a leading Saudi company in petrochemical area. It invested in an operational facility in Ras Al-Khair Port, the industrial city of the Eastern Province. As well, Ma'aden's Phosphate runs Jalamid site, which locates 150km in the west of the city of Arar, northern of KSA. It contains phosphate mine and plant that produces about 11.6 million tons of the raw material that is transferred through railway to Ras Al-Khair. There is also a huge project to produce phosphate in Wa’ad Al-Shamal city’s project, which locates in the far north of KSA, about 20km from Tareef. In this context, Ma’aden has founded “Wa’ad Al-Shamal’s Phosphate” in partnership with SABIC and Mosaic (the largest fertilizer producer in the world).
