Article by Paul-Alain Hunt, courtesy of Bloomberg
20.03.2025
Major mining companies including India’s Vedanta Ltd. and China’s Zijin Mining Group have been awarded leases to explore for metals in Saudi Arabia, part of the kingdom’s push to expand the industry.
They were granted to search regions totaling 4,788 square kilometers (1,849 square miles), including Jabal Sayid, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources said in a post on X. A subsidiary of Australia’s Hancock Prospecting Ltd. — the private investment vehicle of Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart — was also allocated an exploration lease.
Building a much larger, competitive, domestic mining industry is a key ambition for the largely oil-dependent state. The government, which aims to discover large deposits of minerals including copper, gold and silver, said last June that it was awarding leases as part of its Vision 2030 to diversify its economy and attract foreign investment.
Zinjin Mining and a Saudi partner won a bid to explore in Jabal Sayid and will spend about 60 million riyals ($16 million), a spokesperson for the Chinese company said.
