Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources Invites Exploration and Mining Companies to Join It’s the 6th Round of Exploration Licenses Competition

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, August 08, 2024—The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (the Ministry) is inviting exploration and mining companies to participate in the sixth round of exploration licenses competition. Consisting of 7 sites with a total area of more than 995 sq. km, the license rounds will be open for proposals from early August through early September 2024, with successful bidders set to be announced at the end of September.

The exploration license rounds are part of the Kingdom’s efforts to accelerate exploration under the accelerated exploration program in line with its goals under Vision 2030.

An information memorandum is now released for each exploration license under competition round 6, comprising details on the tender process, set criteria, and requirements. The competition is a merit-based tender focused on the bidder’s proposed work program (50%), technical capability (20%), social plans (20%), and innovation (10%).

The sites up for the competition:

Umm Qusur Project covers an area of 20.0 km2 and is located within Riyadh Region and 600 km from the port of Jeddah. The Project features three mineral occurrences within two parallel gold-bearing quartz veins with associated base metal along 5.5 km of strike. Commodities include Au/Ag (Pb, Zn).

Jabal Sabha Project covers an area of 171.5 km² in the central part of Saudi Arabia, approximately 650km from the Jeddah port. Commodities include Ag/Pb/Zn (Nb, Au, Co).

Wadi Ad Dawsh (Al Farah) Project, 157.76 km² in area, approximately 400 km by road northeast of the Port of Jazan, within (Asir) region. Work to date indicates that the style of mineralization is quartz vein gold in altered shear zones along intrusive contacts, with affinities to Shear Zone Type Gold Deposits. Commodities include Zn/Cu (Pb, Au).

Shaib Marqan Project is covering an area of 92 km2. It is considered highly prospective for orogenic vein-hosted gold mineralization and relatively underexplored. At least 22 ancient workings over quartz veins were noted in the area, with 50 vein and rock samples averaging ~5.8 g/t Au, with a maximum of 40 g/t. Commodities include Au (Ag/Cu).

Wadi Al Junah Project, 425.37 km2 in area, is located 20 km west of Bisha within (Asir) region. Three ancient workings along 22 km of structural strike identify significant copper, silver, zinc, and gold mineralization.

Hazm Shubat Project is in the Asir region of the Kingdom. It covers an area of 93.47 km², with intensive mapping, trenching, and drilling efforts confirming the presence of shear zones that host quartz veining, silica-carbonate-iron alteration, and sporadic gold mineralization.

Huwaymidan Project is located 200 km from Al Taif city and 24 km northwest of the ArRjum mine. It covers an area of 34 km² and is deemed prospective for orogenic gold mineralization. Commodities include Au.

Investors interested in participating in the licensing rounds under competition are invited to download the Information memorandum and the technical brochure by visiting the Ta’adeen website at https://taadeen.sa/en/mining-bids to access the data room for these sites which are now open for proposals.

Saudi Arabia’s minerals sector offers compelling investment opportunities, driven by attractive incentives such as 75% co-funding for capital expenditure (CAPEX), a five-year exemption on royalty fees, discounts of up to 30% for local downstream processing (with potential savings of up to 90%), a competitive 20% corporate tax rate, and the advantage of 100% foreign direct ownership.Exploration companies are also encouraged to apply for the Exploration Enablement Program (EEP), which was introduced to de-risk exploration investments, with a total of $182 million in funds committed to the program.