Mahd adh Dhahab
Mahd adh Dhahab gold deposit
geologic map
Mahd adh Dhahab gold mining cross section
The
Mahd adh-Dhahab (
Arabic: مَـهـد الـذّهـب, "
Cradle of (the) Gold"), is the leading
gold mining area in the
Arabian Peninsula. It is located in the
Province of Al-Madinah, in the
Hejazi region of
Saudi Arabia.
Gold was first mined in Arabia
c. 3,000 BC. A second period of activity was during the
Islamic Abbasid period between 750 and 1258 AD. The latest activities by
Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate began in 1936 using both open-pit and underground mines at Mahd adh-Dhahab. The Saudi Arabian Directorate General of Mineral Resources carried out further gold exploration in the 1970s, following the 1971 suspension of the US$-gold exchange rate and the consequent rise in value of the metal. Gold mining is done today by the
Saudi Arabian Mining Company.
Antiquity
There is a possibility that the
Cradle of Gold is mentioned in the
Biblical story of the
Garden of Edenin
The Book of Genesis. -
"And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone." Research by archaeologists
Juris Zarins of
Missouri State University and
Farouk El-Baz of
Boston University indicates that the
Pishon River may be the now dried up river bed that once flowed 600 miles north east from the Mahd adh-Dhahab area of the Hejaz c. 3000 BC.
[1]
The site has also been identified with "
King Solomon's Gold Mine."
[2] Geologists have found a vast abandoned gold mine. Among their finds are huge quantities of waste rock, an estimated million tons, left by the ancient miners, still containing traces of gold. Thousands of stone hammers and grindstones used to extract the gold from the ore litter the mine slopes. Robert W. Luce said: "Our investigations have now confirmed that the old mine could have been as rich as described in biblical accounts."
References
- Jump up ^ C.A. Salabach at Focus Magazine Archived 2012-06-25 at the Wayback Machine.
- Jump up ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?...,1026966&dq=saudi+arabia+cradle+of+gold&hl=en
https://www.woodmac.com/reports/metals-mahd-adh-dhahab-gold-mine-16320130
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahd_adh_Dhahab
A report from 1976:
Solomon’s Gold Mine Believed Found
A mine in western Saudi Arabia is now believed to have been the principal producer of King Solomon’s gold, according to a new study by scientists of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Department of the Interior, working with their counterparts in the Saudi Arabian Directorate General of Mineral Resources (DGMR).
Although many mines scattered throughout the region may have contributed gold to King Solomon’s treasuries, the principal producer and most likely candidate to be the fabled biblical Ophir is the Mahd adh Dhahab (Cradle of Gold) mine, located about midway between Mecca and Madina, the scientists believe.
The conclusion was reached after a four-year (1972–75) detailed geologic, geochemical, and geophysical investigation of the Mahd adh Dhahab mining district by the USGS-DGMR team that also found indications of additional gold-bearing zones.
Dr. Robert W. Luce, geologist, USGS National Center, Reston, Va., and member of the U.S.-Saudia Arabian study team, said, “Mining engineers who operated the Mahd adh Dhahab gold-silver mine during 1939–54 in Saudi Arabia suspected that it was the site of biblical Ophir. Our investigations have now confirmed that the old mine could have been as rich as described in biblical accounts and, indeed, is a logical candidate to be the lost Ophir.
“In fact, we believe that the mining district still contains workable deposits of gold, silver, and other metals,” Luce said. “Our geochemical sampling, for example, indicates that the mineralized zones continue into an area that has not been productive in the past. Shallow diamond drilling in this new area has outlined a mineralized zone with a potential gold resource equal in size and grade to the ore bodies mined during the period 1939–54.”
BSP 5:4 (Autumn 1976) p. 114
Map of the Near East showing the location of Mahd adh Dhahab.
Luce and USGS scientists Ralph J. Roberts, Ronald G. Worl, Richard H. Blank, and Mark E. Gettings, worked in collaboration with Abdulaziz Bagdady, Habib Merghelani, and Abdul-Rahman Gazzaz of the DGMR.
A prominent mining company has expressed interest in conducting further exploration in this area and has applied to the Saudi Arabian government for an exploration license.
One of the intriguing questions is how this fabulously rich area was “lost” in the first place. The Bible reports that King Solomon brought to Jerusalem from Ophir a total of 1,086 talents of gold (1 Kings 9:26–28 and 10:14
http://www.galaxie.com/article/bsp05-4-02
Diamonds were discovered not that long ago in Hijaz as well.
Gem of a find: KSA may have diamond mines | Front Page | Saudi Gazette
The history of Saudi Arabian gold
May 5, 2017
Saudi Gazette report
Mahd Al Dahab
GOLD has been used for coinage, jewelry and adornments throughout recorded history.
Goldsmithery is one of the oldest trades that showcased man’s artistic creativity. It can be traced back to the time of the pharaohs of Egypt.
Requiring great skill and patience, today the Kingdom has goldsmithery institutes that teach the intricate technical and creative skills of the art, Al-Riyadh daily reports.
Gold is used in making jewelry and other ornaments. It is also commonly used in dentistry and electronics. One of the reasons gold is used in dentistry, especially as gold teeth, is because of its durability.
As a metal, gold is soft but durable, particularly if combined with another non-toxic metal. Gold teeth are usually strong and last long.
The use of gold in electronics is due to its excellent electrical conductivity and reliability. It is used in conductors, switches, connecting wires and many other electronic components.
First gold mine
Gold was first mined in Arabia approximately 3000 BC. A second period of activity was during the Islamic Abbasid period between 750 and 1258 AD.
Extraction of gold started in the Kingdom during the era of King Abdulaziz, particularly between 1939 and 1954, at Mahd Al-Dhahab after the deposit was rediscovered in 1932.
The city, about 380 kilometers northeast of in Madinah province in the western region of the country, is situated at 1060 meters above sea level. Mining is carried out by underground methods with a total tunnel development in excess of 60km and a metallurgical plant.
Translated as the Cradle of Gold, Mahd Al-Dhahab was the first gold mine in the modern Saudi Arabia. In 2007, Mahd Al-Dhahab mined and processed approximately 183,425 tons of ore at a grade of 11.1 grams per ton of gold from underground operations, resulting in gold production of approximately 58,256 ounces.
In addition, the mine also processes reclaimed tailings and produces copper and zinc concentrates for third party toll smelting.
The Saudi government established the Saudi Arabian Mining Company in 1997 as a joint stock company with a capital of SR4 billion to operate five mines across the country. The company has expanded its business operations to include the development of phosphate, aluminum and other precious minerals.
Karat is the unit used to measure how pure a piece of gold is and it is abbreviated as “kt or K”. Usually, 24K gold is very expensive as it contains pure gold while 22K gold implies that 22 parts of the jewelry is gold and the remaining two parts are some other metal like silver, nickel, zinc and other alloys. The same thing applies to 18K gold, which consists of 18 parts of pure gold.
It is common for Saudi men to give their future wives dowry in gold. When a man proposes to a woman and when her parents and she accept, the man buys gold jewelry and presents it to his fiancée.
Gold remains the preferred gift for Saudi women even after marriage, especially during birthday parties, pregnancy parties and wedding anniversaries.
The Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) offers diplomas in goldsmithery because the labor market is in dire need for goldsmiths, both men and women. The TVTC diploma program focuses on women because they are more likely than men to consider a life-long career in the field.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/history-saudi-gold/
Gold mines and gold used for jewelry occurred in Arabia almost simultaneously to events in neighboring Egypt.
The oldest known map of a gold mine was drawn in the 19th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (1320–1200 BCE), whereas the first written reference to gold was recorded in the 12th Dynasty around 1900 BCE.
[86] Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 2600 BC describe gold, which King
Tushratta of the
Mitanni claimed was "more plentiful than dirt" in Egypt.
[87] Egypt and especially
Nubiahad the resources to make them major gold-producing areas for much of history. One of the earliest known maps, known as the
Turin Papyrus Map, shows the plan of a
gold mine in Nubia together with indications of the local
geology. The primitive working methods are described by both
Strabo and
Diodorus Siculus, and included
fire-setting. Large mines were also present across the
Red Sea in what is now
Saudi Arabia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold#Cultural_history
The largest ancient gold mine in the Middle East is also located in Saudi Arabia (Hijaz). It is called Madh Al-Dhabab and it is known as the "cradle of gold".
There is a possibility that the
Cradle of Gold is mentioned in the
Biblical story of the
Garden of Eden in
The Book of Genesis. -
"And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone." Research by archaeologists
Juris Zarins of
Missouri State University and
Farouk El-Baz of
Boston University indicates that the
Pishon River may be the now dried up river bed that once flowed 600 miles north east from the Mahd adh-Dhahab area of the Hejaz c. 3000 BC.
[1]
The site has also been identified with "
King Solomon's Gold Mine."
[2] Geologists have found a vast abandoned gold mine. Among their finds are huge quantities of waste rock, an estimated million tons, left by the ancient miners, still containing traces of gold. Thousands of stone hammers and grindstones used to extract the gold from the ore litter the mine slopes. Robert W. Luce said: "Our investigations have now confirmed that the old mine could have been as rich as described in biblical accounts."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahd_adh_Dhahab
Those local dresses don't came from nowhere. Arabian weddings were always a massive jewelry/gold affair.
Saudi Arabia is a massive natural resources and mineral superpower in general so no surprises. Add a huge territory and landmass.