Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources for Mining Affairs Khalid Al-Mudaifer has said that the advanced mining law will be issued soon. He also said that the ministry is in the process of signing a number of contracts during the current year, including one for a full geological survey of the Arabian Shield in the Kingdom with an area of 700,000 sq. km. “It will be one of the largest geological surveys in the world and it consists of an atmospheric physical survey, a ground and chemical survey, and the creation of maps and additional information on minerals, wealth and water, and its results will appear during the year 2025,” he said.

The minister said this in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency after opening a symposium on sustainable development and the optimal exploitation of mineral resources titled “Building materials” in Jeddah on Wednesday. “There are many huge investment opportunities that are being worked out and these included those related to the memorandum of understanding signed last year concerned with the establishment of a copper and zinc refinery with a huge investment.”

Al-Mudaifer said the comprehensive strategy for mining and mineral industries, which was approved by the Council of Ministers one and a half years ago, is beginning to show its results now, and this includes a big increase in financing mining projects by Industrial Development Fund, reaching 75 percent of the cost of the project.

He said the ministry has started, in the first phase, collecting geological information for the national geological database, and launched a mining portal that enables the beneficiaries to complete the procedures for obtaining a new license or renewal of license within seven days. “We hope that in the future the procedures for this will take a single day instead of six months in the past,” he said.

The participants recommended improving the procedures for mining licenses, governance and digitization, to raise the level of business performance in the mining sector with the possibility of benefiting from the experience of the Kingdom in launching an electronic platform called “mining platform”.