Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH – A national workshop to review the second phase of uranium ore exploration project and the role of Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) Company opened here recently. It was inaugurated by Dr. Khaled Bin Saleh Al-Sultan, president of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE). Also present were representatives of Saudi Geological Survey, Maaden and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.

The themes of the workshop focused on reviewing the latest developments in the project, the results of the uranium ore exploration operations, the expected role of Maaden Company in uranium ore prospecting and mining in addition to reviewing the results of the uranium production research at the pilot unit, as KACARE aims to lay down the mechanisms and uranium production project management methods that are economically, environmentally and socially feasible. This is with the aim of exploring and extracting uranium concentrates from uranium ore in Saudi Arabia.

The workshop aimed to strengthen the ties of cooperation with the national and international business partners, under the umbrella of technological cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to shed light on the prominent challenges in conducting the feasibility study on uranium production in the Kingdom.

The workshop reviewed the stages of uranium ore prospecting in the Kingdom, its economic impact, the environmental precautions while carrying out the feasibility study, the system for radiology practices in the uranium prospecting works, the latest global methods followed in uranium mining, specifying the reserves with the purpose of determining the quantity of uranium and thorium resources in the Kingdom accurately.

The workshop also shed light on how to attract investments to carry out the stages of pre-feasibility studies and the special considerations for the infrastructure in terms of location and the necessary facilities during all of the study stages.

Uranium mining project is one of the components of the National Project for Atomic Energy in the Kingdom. It is expected to increase the local content in the industrial and service value chains, localizing technical knowhow in atomic energy technologies and investing them commercially.

KACARE aims to contribute to diversifying the national energy mix so as to provide the requirements of sustainable national development, in line with the ambitious Kingdom’s Vision 2030.