Saudi Mines

It is estimated that the depths of the seas and oceans contain billions of dry tons of polymetallic minerals filled with cobalt, manganese, copper, nickel, gold, silver and zinc, according to the US Geological Survey, and these minerals are necessary in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries that power everything from electric cars to iPhones, so they are in great demand, and only one part of the seabed can contain much more quantities than can be found on the surface of the Earth.

The seas and oceans are one of the important sources of natural resources on the planet, and the basins of the seas and oceans include among their sides a wide range of natural resources that are of great importance from an environmental, social and economic point of view, which includes the preservation of the marine environment and its optimal exploitation for economic and recreational purposes, conducting scientific research, and the seabeds of the seas and oceans contain enormous economic wealth of various minerals, oil and natural gas.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is of great strategic importance for the industrialized countries of the world, overlooks vast expanses of the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

The Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf are considered mines of mineral wealth for Saudi Arabia, because there are many important marine mineral resources, the Red Sea is due to the plate tectonic process that led to a rift and a still continuous divergence of the lithosphere between Africa and Arabia, and this tectonic process is accompanied by a flow of materials from the ground through rock cracks towards the seabed and the formation of mineralized deposits rich in heavy elements under certain physochemical conditions found inside the hot basins of the in the world in terms of oil production and export.

The kingdom has realized the importance and value of the growing mining industry in the world since the Nineties, until it became a key pillar in the Vision 2030 launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to diversify the economy away from dependence on oil, and as a result, Ma’aden was acquired by the Public Investment Fund by 65.44% in 2018, one of the fastest growing mining companies in the world, and the largest multi-commodity mining company in the Middle East, Ma’aden occupied a prestigious position among the top 10 global mining companies according to its market value.

The kingdom has come a long way since 1997, since Ma’aden was established by a royal decree to develop the mining sector in the kingdom as the third pillar of the Saudi industry after the oil and petrochemicals sector.the company also began to focus on marketing products at the global level, increasing the return on investment, in addition to consolidating resources and expertise in conjunction with expanding its presence and building new industrial facilities, after making strenuous efforts and allocating the time and resources necessary to establish unique, integrated and world-class value chains.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has joined the global race, with the most important competitors in the world, the United States and China, as it hopes to use lithium to manufacture electric car batteries, as part of its ambitions to become a center for the electric car industry, especially with the establishment of the Lucid factory for electric cars, as well as laptops and smartphones.

The interest of both the private sector and the Saudi government in the possibility of commercial exploitation of marine minerals is renewed, and the main motives behind this new interest are due to the technological development in the extraction and processing of marine minerals, as well as the increase in demand for minerals in the long term, which is due to globalization and the trend for industrialization in the developing world, with the presence of minerals that have not been exploited properly, and the availability of mineral wealth in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, such as phosphates, copper, zinc and gold, especially in red and Arab Bahrain, as the value of mineral wealth has increased by 90%, reaching equivalent to 9.375 trillion riyals, up from Estimates for 2016 at that time amounted to 5 trillion riyals (1.33 trillion dollars), according to the statement of the Saudi minister of industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Ibrahim al-khorayef during the launch of the third edition of the international mining conference in the capital Riyadh.