Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef revealed that the mining sector witnessed unprecedented achievements in 2023. Moreover, Saudi Arabia recorded historic growth in the industrial sector this year.
Mining sector revenues
The minister stated that the mining sector in Saudi Arabia achieved record revenues during 2023, exceeding SAR1.5 billion.
He pointed out that the Saudi Industrial Development Fund was able to support 119 projects this year with total financing amounting to SAR12.7 billion. The investment value in these projects is worth SAR51 billion.
Alkhorayef highlighted that due to these achievements, Saudi Arabia advanced 17 places in the global rankings of the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI). Moreover, Saudi Arabia began implementing the Fasah initiative in all of the kingdom’s ports through the Zakat, Tax, Income, and Customs Authority.
EV production
According to Alkhorayef’s statements, Saudi Arabia is focusing on renewable energy and extracting the minerals needed to develop chemicals for the battery industry. He also added that the kingdom aims to produce 500,000 electric vehicles (EV) by 2030.
Earlier, Alkhorayef revealed that Saudi Arabia had raised the target of the mining sector’s contribution to its gross domestic product (GDP) to between $70 and $80 billion by 2030.
Moreover, the minister explained that Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 focuses on diversifying the economy, with the mining and industrial sectors providing great opportunities for diversification.
Mining and GDP
Previous estimates suggested that the mining sector’s contribution to Saudi Arabia’s GDP would reach $64 billion by 2030.
Therefore, Alkhorayef said at the sidelines of the Saudi-Arab-African Economic Conference that the kingdom will update its expectations regarding the size of mineral reserves. The reserves currently are worth $1.3 trillion. Additionally, he revealed that Saudi Arabia is working on more geological surveys to explore new mining opportunities in the kingdom.
Read: Saudi Arabia launches The Second Industrial City in Aseer
Economic value of minerals
The minister added that the perception on the global mining sector is not positive. Mining has a bad reputation, does not give the required returns, and has a bad impact on the environment. Therefore, Saudi Arabia looked at how it can learn from these lessons and be more influential and responsible on the social level when it comes to the mining sector.
Alkhorayef stated that the economic value of minerals exceeds their financial value. Therefore, this allows the kingdom to use its natural resources and benefit from its geographical location.
He added that Saudi Arabia is still trying to understand and estimate its mineral reserves. Next January, the ministry will announce new estimates at the Future Minerals Forum to be hosted by the kingdom.
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