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Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources announced on Thursday that an electronic multi-round auction for Khnaiguiyah exploration license would be held on 4 September.
The Khnaiguiyah exploration license, spread over an area of 353.8 square kilometres west of Riyadh in Al Quwaiiyah governorate, is the largest in the Kingdom.
The three consortiums participating in the auction round are:
- Alara Saudi Ventures and Al Tasnim Enterprises
- Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) and Ivanhoe Electric
- Moxico Resources and Ajlan & Bros Mining Company
In April, a Saudi Press Agency report said that following the proposal stage, the Ministry may select a single successful bidder, or alternatively, if two or more proposal scores fall within a comparative range, the Ministry will designate these bidders as ‘Competitive Bidders’ and invite them to participate in a final licensing round stage in the form of a Multi-Round Auction.
The eight bidders prequalified for the proposals stage were Alara Saudi Ventures; Al Masane Al Kobra Mining Company (AMAK); Essel Mining & Industries; Ivanhoe Electric; Moxico Resources; Norin Mining; Ma’aden and Vedanta.
The Khnaigiuyah site’s mining potential is estimated at approximately 25 million tonnes of ore at 4.11 percent of zinc and 0.56 percent of copper.
Saudi Vision 2030 aims to transform the mining sector into the third pillar of Saudi industry.
(Writing by Eman Hamed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
