Ma'aden was formed by Royal decree in 1997 to facilitate the development of Saudi Arabia's mineral resources and was originally 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 five mines and over 11 million ounces of JORC compliant gold resources at operational and exploration sites. Ma'aden has also developed its activities beyond gold with the development of Ma'aden Phosphate Company, which started production in 2011, its aluminium project and a number of other projects. Ma'aden's exploration teams are working to expand available resources in existing business areas as well as to broaden the company's mineral portfolio.