Ministry of Industry says Maaden, AMAK among qualified bidders for Umm Ad Damar exploration license

Logo of Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources announced today, Aug. 17, the names of 13 companies that won in the pre-qualification stage to participate in the tender to obtain an exploration license at Umm Ad Damar mining site.

The site is located in Madinah region in Mahd Adh Dhahab Governorate, and is being offered to local and international investors.

Qualified bidders include Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Maaden), Al-Masane Al-Kobra Mining Co. (AMAK), African Rainbow Metals Co. Ltd., Abdulrahman Saad Al-Rashed & Sons Co., Barrick Gold T7 Ltd., and ERG Arabia Ltd., and an alliance between Moshico Resources, Ajlan & Bros. Mining Com., Yallmaden Limited, Yancol Australia Limited, UDS Golden Group, Saudi Alara Ventures, Vedanta Limited and Noreen Mining.

The ministry added that the announcement of qualified bidders marks the end of the first stage of the bidding process, to obtain a license to inspect the Umm Ad Damar site. This will be followed by submission of bids and public tender. The ministry will also hold a workshop this month for qualified bidders to clarify more details about the upcoming stages.

Bids will be evaluated based on a number of criteria, including technical efficiency, financial, environmental and social capacity, as the information room was provided with previous technical data, including an independent technical report and a three-dimensional geological model, according to the ministry.