Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has announced that the Kingdom’s mineral wealth is now valued in excess of $1.3 trillion, including deposits of copper, zinc, phosphates, uranium and gold, the Saudi Press Agency has reported.
According to a report in MEMO, the announcement was made in an online meeting organized by the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Investment Development, Turki Al-Babtain, with a group of British investors on Tuesday.
In early November, the Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Bandar Al-Khorayef, announced that the Kingdom plans to offer at least ten mineral exploration licenses to international investors. 145 licenses have been issued so far, and the country has witnessed a 27 percent year-on-year growth in mining revenue.
Saudi Arabia has a strong and diverse mining industry, with a range of minerals including gold, copper, phosphates, and uranium. The country is the world’s largest producer of bauxite, and it also has significant reserves of copper, gold, iron ore, and phosphates. The mining sector has long been a major contributor to the Saudi economy, and the government has recently put a renewed focus on investment in the sector as part of its diversification efforts.
“Saudi Arabia is very much open for business, and we have taken many transformational steps to make investing in mining more attractive than ever before,” Khalid Al-Mudaifer, Vice-Minister of Mining Affairs for the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, said. “Plus, because of what investors have told us are critical success factors, we have a new national mind-set, deeper understanding of the complexities of mining and a greater focus on stability and predictability. Combined with a rich and diverse geological footprint, a transformed mining sector and a sharp focus on sustainability, we can make a compelling case that Saudi Arabia is a mining country in the making.”
The Arabian Shield in Saudi Arabia is estimated to contain $1.3 trillion worth of potential mineral value including gold, copper, phosphate, iron ore and rare earth minerals, “many of which are critical to the technologies that will drive a sustainable future,” the Kingdom says.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources said it had awarded a license to mine at the Kingdom’s prized Khnaighuiyah mining site, where zinc and copper deposits are estimated around 26 million tons.
