MDO set to become significant contributor to national economy

MUSCAT, APRIL 4

Minerals Development Oman (MDO), the state-owned mining and minerals processing flagship of the Sultanate of Oman, is making strides in fulfilling its vision of becoming the benchmark for mining-related investments and a global centre of excellence. With this, MDO is confident in becoming a significant contributor to the national economy.

“By prioritising our core values of sustainability, integrity and excellence in all aspects of our operations, and by continuously striving for innovation and enhancing the performance of our employees and subsidiaries, we are confident in becoming a significant contributor to the national economy, and a key player in Oman’s renewed renaissance under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik,” Dr Badar al Kharousi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MDO, said in the Chairman’s message in the recently released MDO Annual Report 2022.

In 2022, MDO made significant progress in key projects. The company succeeded in boosting the economic potential of the Mazoon copper project located in Yanqul by intensifying its exploration and mining efforts. As a result, the growth of proven reserves now stands at 22.9 million tonnes of copper ore.

Moreover, the Shaleem Complex for Industrial Minerals project is making good progress. The project has advanced to the stage of conducting detailed economic feasibility studies, along with developing engineering designs for the port, as MDO has obtained the initial approval from the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology to establish a seaport linked to the project in the Wilayat of Shaleem and Al Hallaniyat Islands. With regard to the downstream sector, MDO and its partners commemorated the laying of the foundation stone for the Sohar Titanium project. Aimed at producing titanium dioxide in the Free Zone in Sohar, the project will be established on an area of more than 120,000 square metres. This accomplishment represents the company’s efforts in enhancing the manufacturing industries in the mining sector in the Sultanate of Oman. Significantly, MDO Group recorded RO 5.5 million revenue for the financial year ended December 31, 2022. The Group also successfully managed to reduce the net loss compared to approved budget by 45 per cent to reach RO 1.9 million in 2022 compared to budgeted loss of RO 3.4 million.

MDO Exploration and Evaluation Assets (EAA) has also increased exploration in 2022 by 4 per cent to reach RO 104.5 million compared to RO 100.5 million in 2021. The RO 4 million in EEA was mainly in Block 12A1 (Mazoon Copper project), Block 4, Shaleem project, Block 52 (Masirah Island) and others. In the last 5 years, MDO’s group asset has increased from RO 58.6 million in 2018 to RO 136.3 million in 2022. At year end, the Group has a healthy financial position with fixed deposits of RO 36.5 million placed with financial institutions as well as cash and cash equivalents of RO 2.3 million. Furthermore, the Group has net current assets of RO 5.7 million as at the end of financial year December 31, 2022 which is sufficient for the Company to continue as a going concern.