Saudi Arabia spends over SAR 500M on mineral exploration: Deputy Minister

Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid Al-Mudaifer

Saudi Arabia is currently spending more than SAR 500 million on mineral exploration, compared to less than SAR 25 million in 2018, with an eye for 50% more year-on-year (YoY) in 2024, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Mudaifer.

“Spending on exploration activities has grown by 40% YoY from SAR 80 per square kilometer to SAR 300, albeit still below the global average. Thus, we aspire to increase it by 50%, in a bid to align growth with global rates,” he told the press conference on the fourth International Mining Conference.

The official also indicated that a total of 70 foreign and local exploration partnerships were established this year. Further, programs and incentives worth about SAR 780 million were created for investors in the exploration domain.

He added that the number of auctions held for tendering exploration licenses this year reached 10 times that of last year. The plan is to be five times higher in the coming year, which will help attract international players.

Al-Mudaifer also mentioned that there are ongoing investments worth SAR 120 billion in minerals used in battery production and are set to increase to SAR 300 billion by 2035.