Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has announced the names of all the 24 companies and consortia that have won licences in the ninth exploration licensing round, the largest in the kingdom’s history to date.
The scale of investment commitments in this round supports the development of underexplored greenfield areas and helps unlock the kingdom’s estimated mineral wealth of SAR9.4 trillion ($2.5 trillion), thereby strengthening the resilience of mineral supply chains.
According to the ministry, the winning entities were awarded 172 mining sites, including 76 sites that advanced to a multi-round public auction, across three mineralized belts in the regions of Riyadh, Madinah, and Qassim, with total committed exploration spend of over SAR671 million during the first two years of their work programmes.
The list includes several leading international companies, namely: Desert EX Private Limited; Batin Alard for Gold Company; Royal Roads Arabia Company; Sierra Nevada Gold; Aurum Global Group; Brunswick Exploration Incorporated; Eqleed-Indotan Mining Company; Helderberg Limited Company; Rawafed Alola for Mining Company; Saudi Gold Refinery Limited Company; Arabian Discovery Mining Company; Al Ghazal Al Arabi Mining Company; Almasar Minerals Holding Limited Company; Al Tasnim Enterprises; Arabian Gulf Skylark. The Distinguished Consortium Mining Company, Two Limited Company; Maaden Ivanhoe Electric Exploration and Development Limited Company, said a statement from the ministry.
Several newly-formed consortia too emerged winners in the licensing round, such as Demir Engineering, Dahrouge Geological Consulting and Kaz United Mining Consortium; Kenz Global Resources and Manahil Al Sharq Mining and Al Rayyan Mining Resources Company Consortium; Maaden Barrick Technology Experts and Andiamo Exploration; Shandong Gold (Beijing) Industrial Investment and Ajlan & Bros Company for Mining; Midana Exploration and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) Consortium; and McEwen Mining and Sumou Holding Company Consortium.
This milestone comes as part of the ministry’s ongoing efforts to accelerate mineral exploration and development in the Kingdom, in line with the objectives of Vision 2030, which positions the mining sector as the third pillar of the national industrial economy, it stated.
According to the ministry, the ninth round offered over 24,000 sq km, spanning the Ad-Duwaihi/Nabitah gold belt in Riyadh Region, as well as the Nuqrah and Sukhaybirah/As-Safra gold belts in Madinah and Qassim regions.
These areas are rich in strategic minerals, including gold, copper, silver, zinc and nickel. The round witnessed strong interest and high-quality competition from leading local and international companies, reflecting growing confidence in Saudi Arabia’s mining investment environment and its attractiveness at both regional and global levels, said the statement.
The ministry said that the ninth round saw 26 qualified companies participate via the electronic bidding platform. The round was conducted in several stages with the highest levels of transparency: prequalification, site selection via the platform, and a multi-round public auction for sites attracting more than one bidder.
Regarding future opportunities, the ministry confirmed that licensing will continue through the 10th round, spanning 13,000 sq km across Madinah, Makkah, Riyadh, Qassim, and Hail. It will include new sites that extend the mineralised belts offered in the ninth round.
It will further announce additional exploration and investment opportunities at the fifth edition of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF) scheduled to take place in Riyadh from January 13 to 15.-TradeArabia News Service
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