Is Saudi Arabia richer in minerals than oil?
When Saudi Aramco decided to evaluate itself a few years ago, it came up with a figure close to $2 trillion given the enormous oil deposits the Gulf Kingdom sits on.
Fast forward to 2022, the value of the Kingdom's mineral resources was estimated at around SAR 5 trillion ($1.33 trillion), which has now soared to around SAR9.3 trillion ($2.48 trillion), thanks to massive discoveries over the past three years.
'The Kingdom has made large strides in the development of its mining sector,' Deputy Saudi Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Khalid Al-Mudaifer was quoted last week as saying by the Saudi daily Al-Madina.
'This was coupled with a large investment flow into the sector...such investments along with an unprecedented expansion in mining exploration has boosted the Kingdom's mineral wealth from SAR 5 trillion to SAR9.3 trillion.'
Mudaifer, who was addressing a promotion seminar on Saudi in the US Miami city, said a landmark mining law introduced by Riyadh five years ago boosted the number of mining investment firms from 6 in 2020 to 133 at the end of 2023.
Last month, the Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry said it has completed nearly 90 percent of a survey of a targeted area of around 400,000 square kilometres (sq km).
Over the past two years, the Kingdom announced that exploration operations have resulted in significant discoveries of gold, zinc and copper in the Arabian Shield region, which exceeds one third of Saudi Arabia's total area.
In 2024, Oil Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman revealed at the Future Minerals Forum in the capital Riyadh that significant quantities of uranium and titanium have been discovered in various explored areas. He also confirmed that Saudi Arabia has 'an abundance of metals and minerals and is developing the structure and partnerships that would fully exploit them.
The last major contracts awarded by Saudi Arabia to mine prospectors were in November, when six large mining sites covering an area of nearly 850 sq km were offered to local and foreign investors.
These awards boosted the total number of mining and mineral exploration licenses issued by the Kingdom over the past five years to nearly 2,295. These include more than 200 for mining exploration, 42 for prospecting minerals and 23 surplus mineral resources licenses.
The Vision 2030 economic transformation plan aims to more than quadruple the mining sector's contribution to GDP from around $17 billion in 2019 to $75 billion in 2035.
When Saudi Aramco concluded that valuation, experts said it was based on an oil price of $8 a barrel and crude reserves of about 258 billion barrels. It was not clear how much of those reserves could be extracted.
(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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