Saudi Arabia Is Now Pushing For A $100 Billion Mining Investment

The discovery of rare earth elements and metals helped Saudi Arabia raise the value of its untapped mineral resources from $1.3 trillion to $2.5 trillion in 2024.

Consequently, a $100 billion mineral investment project has been announced by the kingdom, of which $20 billion is currently in the final engineering stage or being built.

According to Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman, the nation needs to invest “as fast and furious as possible” in the mining and processing of vital minerals. On October 29, 2024, at the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference, he made this announcement at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.

In light of the ongoing conflict in the region and growing skepticism regarding the Gulf kingdom’s most ambitious development projects, international business leaders convened an investor forum in Saudi Arabia on October 29.

With the announcement of several agreements, investment plans, and discoveries, Saudi Arabia is now making strides to place itself on the world map of critical minerals.

However, Saudi Vice Minister of Mining Affairs Khalid al-Mudaifer did not provide further details. Saudi officials have discussed plans to significantly expand the country’s exploration for lithium, as well as for other critical minerals and rare earth elements including copper, gold, zinc, phosphate and nickel.

At the Future Minerals Forum in January 2024, the Saudi government established a $182 million incentive program for minerals exploration.

On Wednesday, January 15, Aramco, the kingdom’s state oil giant, also announced that it would form a joint venture with Ma’aden, the Saudi state mining company, to explore and produce energy transition minerals.

At the minerals forum, Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman informed participants that Aramco had found “promising” lithium concentrations of more than 400 parts per million in its operating regions.

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The minister emphasized Manara, a new partnership between Ma’aden and the Public Investment Fund, or PIF, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. Manara was founded with the goal of creating more robust global supply chains and investing in mining assets worldwide.

“We don’t claim to have all the resources or abilities, so we’ve created Manara to make sure we can reach out for the resources that we need,” bin Salman said. “We have to be doing it as fast and furious as possible.”

The minister went on to say that with the aid of potential partnerships, lithium production in the kingdom might start as early as 2027.

Lithium is a highly sought-after commodity, especially for the energy transition and advanced technologies, and as Saudi Arabia seeks to diversify its economy away from oil, as it is a crucial component of batteries for devices and electric vehicles.

In an effort to create supply chains that are more robust to shocks from around the world, the kingdom is also working to establish itself as a center for the processing of these vital minerals. China currently controls about two-thirds of the market for lithium processing.

Meanwhile, Aramco, Ma’aden, and local extraction startup Lithium Infinity are working together to soon start a commercial direct extraction pilot program.