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Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has extended the deadline for submitting prequalification applications for its latest mining exploration licensing round to 31 July 2026, following investor requests.
The prequalification invitation was issued on 1 March 2026 with a submission deadline of 30 April 2026.
The competition covers 8 exploration sites with a combined area exceeding 1,878 square kilometres (sq km), located across the Riyadh, Hail and Asir regions offering gold, silver, copper, and iron ore.
The offered sites include:
Ashhab Al-Dhiab: Gold resources ranging between 9,100 and 140,000 ounces
Jabal Munayyah: Gold, tin and tungsten mineralisation
Al-Khathni: Quartz veins with high silver grades reaching up to 133 grams per tonne, in addition to lead and zinc
Wadi Khiyam: Orogenic gold deposits and newly identified mineralised veins associated with gold
Jabal Makhit: Gold mineralisation associated with quartz veins reaching up to 17 grams per tonne of gold
Al-Khashimah: Copper and zinc mineralisation.
Dila Sammar Al-Har (Jabal Uqab): Gold resources ranging between 59,800 and 220,000 ounces
Jabal Ismas: Iron ore resources estimated between 1.3 and 1.6 billion tonnes at an iron grade of 65 percent
The Ministry said these sites are outcomes of the Accelerated Exploration Initiative, implemented with Saudi Geological Survey. Fieldwork included the collection of 6,447 surface samples, 8,825 exploratory trench pits, 26,229 samples from boreholes, in addition to the execution of 22,767 metres of drilling works.
It reiterated that technical data and tender documents are available through the Taadeen platform, with companies required to register and complete prequalification before participating.
The Kingdom recently climbed to 10th place globally in the Fraser Institute Mining Investment Attractiveness Index, up from 23rd in 2024. The value of the Kingdom’s mineral resources has been estimated at at SAR 9.4 trillion.
(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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