Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman speaks during the annual conference of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on October 29, 2024.
Fayez Nour El-Din | AFP | Getty Images
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia is moving forward to put itself on the map of important global minerals, announcing a number of deals, investment plans and discoveries at the annual Future Minerals Forum in the capital, Riyadh.
Saudi Deputy Minister of Mining Affairs, Khaled Al-Mudaifer, announced on Wednesday the development of a new mineral investment project worth $100 billion, and $20 billion of it is in the final engineering stage or under construction.
While the deputy minister did not provide further details, Saudi officials discussed plans to significantly expand the country's exploration for lithium, as well as other important minerals and rare earth elements including copper, gold, zinc, phosphate and nickel.
In early 2024, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources raised its estimates of the value of its untapped mineral resources from $1.3 trillion to $2.5 trillionenhanced by the discovery of the aforementioned elements and minerals. At the Future Minerals Forum in January 2024, the Saudi government Establishing a $182 million incentive program For mineral exploration.
National oil giant Aramco on Wednesday announced a joint venture with Saudi state mining company Ma'aden to explore and produce minerals that turn into energy.
Speaking on stage, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman told attendees at the Minerals Forum that Aramco has identified “promising” lithium concentrations exceeding 400 parts per million in the areas where it operates.
Bin Salman told the audience: “We were saying…there is nothing Aramco can do.” “Aramco can be a diversified company and its mandate has no limits.”
The minister highlighted the “Manara” project, a project recently established between the Saudi state mining company “Ma’aden” and the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund. Beacon was founded to invest in mining assets around the world and develop more resilient global supply chains.
Bin Salman said: “We do not claim to have all the resources or capabilities, so we created a lighthouse to ensure that we can access the resources we need.” “We have to do it as quickly and as quickly as possible.”
Saudi Aramco's oil refinery and oil terminal in Ras Tanura
Ahmed Jadallah | Reuters
The minister added that lithium production in the Kingdom could start in 2027 with the help of potential cooperation.
Lithium is a key element in appliance batteries and electric vehicles, and is a highly sought-after commodity, especially for the energy transition and advanced technologies, as Saudi Arabia works to diversify its economy away from oil.
The Kingdom also seeks to become a processing center for these important minerals, as it seeks to build more resilient supply chains in the face of global turmoil. China currently controls nearly two-thirds of the lithium processing market.
Saudi Arabia in December Successful extraction of lithium reported From salt water samples in Aramco oil fields. Al-Mudaifer said at the time that cooperation was underway with Ma’aden, Aramco and local extraction startup Lithium Infinity to launch a commercial pilot program for direct extraction soon.
