Saudi Arabia intends to issue 30 new mining permits in 2024 as part of a strategy to attract local and foreign investment to its lucrative minerals industry, a senior Saudi official was reported on Monday as saying.
Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry Undersecretary Khalid Al-Mudaifer told the Saudi daily Aliqtisadia that the world’s dominant oil exporter is pushing ahead with plans to create a metals bourse, buoyed by sharp growth in the industry in the past years.
He noted that the Ministry has recently massively revised up its mineral wealth from around $1.3 trillion to $2.5 trillion, adding that this would encourage the Ministry to intensify plans to lure in more investors.
“We are planning to issue at least 30 mining licenses this year, with an average of 8 licenses in each quarter…this is because there has been a large increase in applications by foreign firms to hunt for minerals in the Kingdom,” Mudaifer said.