Saudi Arabia's mining reforms drive $32bln in investments: Report
This represents nearly a third of the $100 billion targeted for investment by 2030, Ashraq Business, a financial news website, reported, quoting Al-Mudaifer.
Since 2018, mineral exploration spending in the Kingdom has increased fourfold to $100 per sq. km., growing at an annual rate of 32 percent - well above the global average of 6-8 percent, he said.
Al-Mudaifer that foreign companies account for nearly 70 percent of the total number of companies operating in the sector.
Saudi Arabia has invested more than 1 billion Saudi riyals in a geological survey of 630,000 sq km, which has led to a revaluation of reserves to more than $2.5 trillion, compared to $1.3 billion five years ago.
The ministry aims to launch exploration tenders for an area of 50,000 sq km by year-end, Al-Mudaifer said.
(Editing by Anoop Menon) (anoop.menon@lseg.com)
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