Introduction
Porphyry copper deposits represent a strategically significant source of Cu metal, accounting for ~75% of the World’s copper Resources and Reserves (Mudd & Jowitt, 2018). In recent years, the growing demand for critical and base metals, driven by the energy transition and technological advancements, has renewed interest in underexplored regions such as the Arabian Shield. Collaborative geodynamic studies by Ma’aden and SRK Consulting (Price et al., 2025) have provided a refined framework for understanding the tectonic setting, tectonomagmatic evolution and metallogenesis of the Arabian Shield. This project utilised our renewed understanding of the shield to assess prospectivity for porphyry copper-gold systems and refine exploration workflows across this region.
The Arabian Shield forms the eastern component of the Arabian Nubian Shield, covering large portions of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Previous explorers have been quick to dismiss the broader Arabian Nubian Shield’s prospectivity for porphyry systems due to its extensive exposure of Precambrian magmatism and implied low preservation potential for porphyry deposits. As such, the region has relatively low exploration maturity for porphyry deposits, despite confirmed occurrences of porphyry mineralisation at Mibari, Daero Paulos and Jebel Ohier, amongst others. These systems prove the inherent fertility to form, and the capability to preserve porphyry systems, suggesting further porphyry exploration is warranted.
Authors
- Alex Tunnadine
- Stephen Johnson
- Steve Garwin
- Ali Sholeh
- James Davey
- Jamie Price
- Mark Campodonic
- Mohammed Rashed Al Somali
- Zaid Al Mowaled
- Thiago Schlichta
