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KHOBAR / Reuters
The government-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF) replaced four of its representatives on the board of Ma’aden, the Gulf’s largest miner, in which it owns 49.99 percent.
Saudi Arabia’s Mining Co (Ma’aden) said its board now includes the chairman of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, Khalid al-Falih and prominent Saudi businesswoman Lubna al-Olayan.
Besides Falih and Olayan, the representatives will include Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Issa a board member of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) and Abdallah al-Saadan Aramco’s senior vice president for Finance, Strategy and Development, Ma’aden said in a bourse statement.
It said the appointments were made as part of the government’s plan to promote the mining sector.
Saudi Arabia said on Monday it wants to introduce structural reform to the mining sector which the world’s largest oil exporter wants to be a pillar of the economy. Its Vision 2030 plan sees it substantially reducing its reliance on oil. Also on Monday, the government said 97 billion riyals ($26 billion) would be the contribution of the mining sector to GDP by 2020, creating 90,000 jobs.
Ma’aden said Abdallah Saif al Saif, its chairman who was a former senior executive of Aramco has resigned.
It added that two other board members were also appointed and shareholders will be asked to approve all the appointments at a future meeting, without giving a date.