Phosphate, gold, copper lead Saudi Arabia’s $1.3 trillion untapped mining market – by George Charles Darley (Arab News – January 11, 2022)

https://www.arabnews.com/

Saudi Arabia holds an estimated $1.3 trillion worth of untapped mineral deposits — led by phosphate, gold and copper — according to the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program.

These three commodities, all of which are already being mined in the Kingdom, will no doubt be much discussed at Future Minerals Forum, to be held in Riyadh between Jan. 11 and 13.

NIDLP established a Geological Survey Program in 2020, expected to last six years, for the Arabian Shield — the pre-Cambrian rock-bed formed more than 4 billion years ago and which measures up to 14 kilometers deep — in the Kingdom’s western region.

The program, which was created to support the Kingdom’s diversification away from oil, estimates the value of Saudi Arabia’s largest three minerals resources at $321 billion of phosphate, $229 billion of gold and $222 billion of copper, as well as $70 billion worth each of iron and uranium — among a total of 48 minerals and metals.

For the rest of this article: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2001831/business-economy