Saudi Gazette Report

LAS VEGAS —Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef held bilateral meetings with top executives of leading mining services companies participating in the MINExpo INTERNATIONAL 2024 exhibition, held in Las Vegas, USA.

The minister discussed with Michael Wright, CEO of Thies, the objectives of the comprehensive strategy for the mining sector, in addition to the mining investment system that achieves legislative stability in an investment environment that is the fastest growing in the world. Thies is a company specialized in mining services and investment opportunities in the mining sector.

He also invited Thies to explore Saudi Arabia as an attractive location through which the company can expand its presence in the region, as it works in the field of mining services, and its operations extend to Australia, Asia and the Americas. It also works on mining a group of raw materials including thermal and metallurgical coal, copper, in addition to iron ore, nickel, gold and diamonds.

Alkhorayef also met with John Stanton, CEO of Weir Group, an engineering company working to provide solutions to improve performance and production efficiency in several sectors, including mining.

The meeting witnessed discussions on the valves and pumps sector, whose market value in Saudi Arabia reached $9.8 billion by the end of 2022, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Studies have shown an increasing growth in demand for valves and pumps, driven by mega projects in many sectors, such as oil and gas, with local production not fully covering demand.

During the meeting, the joint opportunities through which this industry can be localized in Saudi Arabia were discussed, as the Weir Group can gain competitive advantages that enhance its investment and expand its business by establishing a pump and valve factory in Saudi Arabia.

The Minister held a meeting with the Head of Rock Processing Solutions at Sandvik Richard Harris, and the Head of Surface Drilling Solutions Petri Wirankowski.

The meetings witnessed a review of the objectives of the comprehensive mining strategy in Saudi Arabia, and the investment opportunities available to Sandvik, especially with regard to mining machines and cranes, as the company provides products and solutions for mining, rock drilling, rock processing and metal cutting, and focuses on improving mining operations through advanced equipment, tools, services and digital innovations.

Alkhorayef also met with Dave Goddard, head of Mining at Hexagon, a digital solutions company.

He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s efforts in digital transformation across various sectors, including industry and mining, reviewing several initiatives in this regard, most notably the Future Factories initiative, which aims to automate 4,000 factories, providing an opportunity for Hexagon to expand its presence in Saudi Arabia and meet the growing demand for software solutions, including artificial intelligence applications.

The minister’s meetings with mining services companies included a meeting with Caterpillar’s ​​Chief Technology Officer Otto Breitschwerdt, with whom he reviewed promising opportunities in the field of heavy equipment and diesel generators, especially as Saudi Arabia is working to build giant development projects.

The minister discussed the objectives of the National Industrial Strategy, which considers diesel engines and heavy equipment to be key products in its qualitative projects.

He pointed out that the Saudi heavy equipment market, which is worth more than $4 billion, and the diesel generator market, which is worth $550 million, are expected to grow significantly until 2030, especially with the lack of local licensed manufacturers of heavy equipment, and the demand for diesel generator sets locally is only 46% met, which is an opportunity to localize these industries in Saudi Arabia, and a promising opportunity to establish a factory for Caterpillar products, specifically heavy machinery and diesel generator sets.

Caterpillar is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-road diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives, and has been providing innovative solutions to customers around the world for over 100 years.

It also has a long-standing partnership with the Saudi company “Zahid Tractor” for 70 years, as the latter is the agent for the distribution and maintenance of Caterpillar equipment in Saudi Arabia, where it provided a group of 69 generators to provide 32 megawatts of hybrid power solutions, using both diesel and B100 biodiesel for the construction phase of the Red Sea Project in Saudi Arabia.

The minister met with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Impossible Metals Dan Lankford and discussed with him the latest smart solutions used in mineral exploration, especially mining operations in the seas and oceans.

Impossible Metals is building underwater robotic vehicles to collect critical minerals from the seafloor, and recently successfully tested its Eureka 2 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in deep water.