Saudi Arabia Signs $9.32 Billion Mining Investment Deals with Vedanta, Zijin, and Others
Saudi Arabia has signed nine investment deals in the metals and mining sector worth over 35 billion riyals ($9.32 billion) with various international companies, including India's Vedanta and China's Zijin Group. The deals were announced during the World Investment Conference in Riyadh, as part of the Global Supply Chain Resilience Initiative, a program under Saudi Arabia's National Investment Strategy.
The expansion of Saudi Arabia's mining sector is a core element of the Vision 2030 plan, which aims to diversify the kingdom's economy and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Under Vision 2030, the government seeks to attract $100 billion annually in foreign investment by the end of the decade, having achieved just over a quarter of that amount last year.
Vedanta, an oil-to-metals conglomerate, plans to build copper production facilities with a capital expenditure of 7.5 billion riyals at Ras Al-Khair. The project includes a smelter and refinery with a capacity of 400,000 metric tons per annum (tpa) and a 300,000 tpa copper rod plant. The initiative is expected to contribute approximately 70 billion riyals to Saudi Arabia's economic growth and ensure domestic self-sufficiency in copper production.
China's Zijin Group will invest between 5 billion and 6 billion riyals, starting with a zinc smelter capable of producing 100,000 tpa of zinc ingots and 200,000 tpa of sulphuric acid. In a subsequent phase, Zijin plans to construct a lithium carbonate extraction facility to produce 60,000 tpa of battery-grade lithium carbonate. The final phase will involve building a copper refinery with an output of 200,000 tpa of copper cathodes and about 50,000 tpa of electrolytic copper foil.
Australia's Hastings Technology Metals will invest between 5.6 billion and 7.2 billion riyals to build processing facilities for rare earth elements. The development will occur in multiple phases, including the construction of a hydrometallurgical processing plant, a solvent extraction separation facility, and a downstream rare earth elements processing facility. Hastings will source rare earth elements from mines within Saudi Arabia.
Vancouver-based Platinum Group Metals is collaborating with local firm Ajlan & Bros Mining to build a 1.9 billion riyal platinum group metals smelter and base metals refinery. The feedstock for these facilities will come from the Waterberg mine in South Africa, which Platinum Group Metals is currently developing.
