Saudi Arabia offers 7 mineral exploration licenses

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources announced today, Oct. 22, invited bids from local and international investors for seven new mineral exploration licenses in Makkah and Riyadh on an area of nearly 1,070 km2, the state-owned SPA reported.

The offered exploration sites have quality mineral resources and precious metals, including base metals such as gold, copper, zinc, lead, and silver across several sites, four of which are situated in Makkah.

The ministry indicated that the bidding phase began in mid-October 2024 and will continue until mid-November 2024, the deadline for submitting technical bids for the exploration licenses.

The bidding process takes into account the evaluation of the competency criteria and technical ability of the bidders, the Ministry stated. It added that 70% of the evaluation criteria focus on the work program and technical ability, while 30% depend on the community contribution and innovation support activities provided by bidders.

The ministry invited interested investors to visit the "Ta'adeen" platform to view the information memorandum, which explains all the bidding procedures, in addition to downloading all the technical and geological reports for the sites offered for bidding.

According to Argaam's data, the Ministries of Industry and Investment earlier invited global mining and exploration companies to register in the Exploration Enablement Program (EEP) as part of the Kingdom's efforts to reinforce and develop the local mining sector and transform it into the third pillar of national industries, in line with Vision 2030 goals.