Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has introduced the bidding for seven new mining exploration licenses, covering an area of nearly 1,000 square kilometers.
The initiative comes as a part of ‘Accelerated Exploration Program’, which seeks to boost the kingdom’s exploration and development of mineral resources, valued at SAR9.3 trillion ($2.48 trillion). This also falls in with Saudi Vision 2030, to make mining a significant pillar of the national industry.
The mining exploration sites span across various regions, and they contain precious and base metals. The Umm Qasir located in Riyadh, has gold, silver, lead and zinc across 20 square kilometers. Jabal Sabha, another site in Riyadh, holds silver, lead, zinc and cobalt reserves over an area of 171 square kilometers.
The Wadi Ad Dawsh in Aseer, covering over 157.7 square kilometers, has gold, silver, and copper deposits. Shaib Marqan in Riyadh has gold, silver and copper spanning over 92 square kilometers. In Aseer, Wadi Al Junah, covering 425.37 square kilometers, contains copper, silver, zinc and gold. Hazm Shubat, another site in Aseer, holds gold over 93.47 square kilometers. Huwaymidan in Makkah, extends over 34 square kilometers with gold deposits.
The deadline for submitting the proposals for the exploration license bids is early September 2024. The evaluation process will be transparent and fair, where 70 percent will be based on technical skills, and the remaining 30 percent will rely on community contributions.
To support investment, the ministry and the Saudi Investment Ministry have collaboratively launched new incentives that involve SAR7.5 million ($2 million) in funding for companies with less than five years exploration licenses. This allows 100 percent foreign ownership as and 75 percent capital expenditure financing.
Investors who are interested to grab these opportunities can visit the Ta’adeen platform to get access to the detailed information and technical data related to these seven exploration sites.
