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Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry & Mineral Resources (MIMR) has launched its tenth round of a mineral exploration licensing competition, qualifying 24 local and international companies and consortiums to participate.

The exploration opportunities offered under Round 10 cover about 13,000 square kilometres across the regions of Medina, Mecca, Riyadh, Qassim and Hail. They encompass several highly prospective mineralised belts that are said to contain significant deposits of gold, copper, silver, zinc and nickel.

One of the key areas offered in the round is the Nabithah-Ad Duwayhi (Dahlat Shabeb) Belt, which hosts the Ad-Duwayhi Mine, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest gold-producing operations, with annual production of approximately 180,000 ounces of gold.

Other notable exploration zones include the Sukhaybarat-Al-Safra Belt, recognised for its gold and base metals potential and home to the Sukhaybarat and Bulghah mining operations, as well as the Al-Nuqrah Belt, known for substantial gold resources and volcanogenic massive sulphide mineralisation rich in copper and zinc.

According to MIMR, 17 companies that previously qualified under Round 9 have retained their eligibility, while seven additional companies and consortiums successfully completed the Round 10 prequalification process.

The newly qualified bidders in Round 10 are:

• Anaam Al-Qarat for Trading / Sahara Mining Company consortium
• Danakali / Masadar Al-Zamarda for Mining consortium
• Power Metallic Mines 
• PT ANTAM Tbk
• Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden)
• Thurb Al-Hayya for Trading Company
• Wildsky Resources

The previously qualified participants from Round 9 are:

• Al-Ghazal Al-Arabi Mining Company
• Almasar Minerals Holding
• Al-Tasnim Enterprises
• Aurum Global Group
• Batin Al-Ard for Gold Company
• China National Geological and Mining Corporation
• DesertEx 
• Eqleed-Indotan Mining Company
• Helderberg 
• Jacaranda Minerals
• Midana Exploration
• Royal Road Arabia
• Saudi Gold Refinery 
• Sierra Nevada Gold
• Sun Peak Metals
• The Distinguished Consortium Mining Company
• Vedanta 

In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, MIMR said exploration licence competitions are conducted through a structured three-stage process designed to ensure transparency, competitiveness and equal opportunity for all participants.

The process begins with prequalification assessments covering technical expertise and financial capability, followed by a site-selection phase through the ministry’s digital mining platform, Taadeen. Where multiple bidders compete for the same exploration site, the process advances to a public, multi-round bidding stage, with licences awarded based on exploration expenditure commitments and predefined evaluation criteria.

The next phase of Round 10 will allow qualified bidders to select available exploration sites via the Taadeen platform, in accordance with established procedures that promote fair competition and enable companies to pursue opportunities aligned with their technical capabilities and investment strategies.

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“The continued participation of major international and regional mining companies reflects growing confidence in Saudi Arabia’s mining sector and the effectiveness of its transparent licensing framework,” MIMR said in its statement.

Jarrah Aljarrah, a ministry spokesperson, said increasing participation in successive exploration licensing rounds demonstrates growing investor confidence in the kingdom’s mining ecosystem, supported by regulatory reforms, improved availability of geological data, transparent licensing mechanisms and a steadily expanding pipeline of exploration opportunities.

Saudi Arabia’s metals and mining sector is pivotal to the country’s non-oil growth trajectory. Commercial exploitation of the kingdom’s mineral resource base – most of which remains untapped – is a key component of the Saudi Vision 2030 socio-economic transformation strategy.

The kingdom took a first step towards realising the commercial potential of its mineral resources when it enacted the Mining Investment Law in 2021. Since the law came into effect, MIMR has awarded about 3,248 mining permits to local and foreign firms under its accelerated exploration initiative, including 128 in April this year alone.

Addressing the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh in January 2024, Bandar Alkhorayef, the kingdom’s minister of industry and mineral resources, said Saudi Arabia’s natural resources are worth $2.5tn – an increase of more than 90% compared to the 2016 estimate.

This near-doubling of natural resource estimates – which exclude fossil fuels and include phosphate, gold and rare earths – is expected to provide a stimulus to the kingdom’s nascent mining industry.

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