Discussions are still ongoing with British car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover to build an automotive factory in Saudi Arabia, according to Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden).

“There is discussion as announced by the government and there are discussions with a lot of car manufacturers and Jaguar Land Rover is one of them” says Abdulaziz al-Harbi, chief executive at Maaden Aluminium. “There is a possibility to have the industry in Saudi Arabia.”

He was speaking on the sidelines of the Arab international Aluminium Conference (Arabal) in Dubai.

The mining firm, which is 25 per cent owned by American aluminium producer Alcoa has begun exporting aluminium sheets to Jaguar Land Rover, which is a subsidiary of Indian manufacturer Tata Motors.

“We’re ramping up now and we’re looking for better opportunities and increase the volume,” Al-Harbi added.

In 2012, Jaguar Land Rover signed a letter of intent with Saudi Arabia to produce 50,000 cars annually by 2017.

There was no announcement of further progress on the facility but the Financial Times reported in 2015 that the project had been quietly scrapped.

Al-Harbi reiterated that Maaden was not in discussions with any other car manufacturer apart from Jaguar Land Rover.

“We’re not in discussions with other manufacturers apart from JLR at the moment.”