Saudi Arabia recalculates mineral wealth, new value to be unveiled in January: Alkhorayef

Bandar Alkhorayef Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources

Saudi Arabia is recalculating its mineral resources to create a new value, different from the previous value of $1.3 trillion, Bandar Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, told the state-run Saudi press Agency (SPA).

"We will announce our new estimate of the mineral resources in Saudi Arabia during the Future Minerals Forum, which will be held next January," Al-Khorayef said during a round table meeting held in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, with the participation of the Japanese Ministry of Economy and Trade and 19 Japanese companies.

The ministry previously estimated the value of mineral resources in the Kingdom at more than $1.3 trillion (about SAR 5 trillion), which includes phosphate and bauxite minerals in the northeast and gold, copper, and rare earth elements in the Arabian Shield in the west of the Kingdom, according to data available to Argaam.

Al-Khorayef also invited Japanese companies to participate in the third edition of the Future Minerals Forum, which will be held in Riyadh during January 9–11, to build on the outstanding and long-standing relations and shared values between the two countries.

The minister also stated that the National Strategy for Industry, which was launched by the Kingdom more than a year ago, aims to achieve an industrial economy that attracts investment, exports high-tech products, and contributes to securing global supply chains in partnership with the local and foreign private sector.

The strategy, he explained, includes 12 strategic sectors, which expand the scope of promising opportunities available to Japanese companies to invest in the Kingdom's industrial sector.

"The National Strategy for Industry not only addresses our local needs but also participates in solving the challenges of global supply chains, which have encountered some issues in the past few years,” said the minister. “We are and have been an industrial country for several years, and our main focus in the past has been industries, which include oil and gas.".

"The National Strategy for Industry not only addresses our local needs, but participates in solving the challenges of global supply chains, which have encountered some issues in the past few years,” said the minister, “We are and have been an industrial country for several years, and our main focus in the past has been industries, which include oil and gas.”

Al-Khorayef highlighted that one of the mining sector's accomplishments was the launch of the world's largest regional geological survey on an area of 700,000 square kilometers in the Arabian Shield, which yielded promising results.