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Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has named Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) the preferred bidder for two exploration licenses for Muhaddad and Ar Ridaniyah, it said in a post on the messaging application X (formerly Twitter).
Muhaddad is located in the Asir region, nearly 456 square kilometres from Jazan Industry Port. The estimated area of exploration is more than 139 square kilometres (sq km), with possible deposits of copper, zinc, lead and gold.
Ar Ridaniyah is located within the unexplored Alamar in the Riyadh region. The estimated area of exploration is more than 75 sq km, with possible deposits of zinc and silver.
In April, the ministry released the list of 13 local and international companies that qualified to bid for the exploration sites of Muhaddad and Ar Ridaniyah.
In February 2023, Zawya Projects had reported that Saudi Arabia had started the prequalification phase for five new mining opportunities that were showcased at the Future Minerals Forum 2023 (FMF 2023) in Riyadh in January 2023.
Maaden is committed to drilling more than 61,000 metres in the first two years of the accelerated mining program to explore deposit reserves as part of the Vision 2030 agenda, the ministry said.
(Writing by D Madhura; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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