Inside Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Dominate Mining
March 14th, 2024Via: Semafor:
Saudi Arabia sees vast riches beyond oil within its reach. The kingdom’s broad-ranging ambition, a top mining official told Semafor, is to extract the more than $2.5 trillion in metals in its soil, invest in minerals extraction around the world, and capture as much of the minerals value chain as possible.
“Saudi Arabia is being transformed. Through this transformation we want to be an economic powerhouse,” Khalid al-Mudaifer, the vice minister for mining, said. “To be an industrial [power], we need minerals. To build projects, we need minerals. Therefore, mining of Saudi Arabia [is] the first step, bringing minerals from outside is the second step, third step is to build Saudi Arabia as a hub.”
As part of its “Vision 2030” effort to refashion and diversify its economy, the kingdom is adding mining as a “pillar” of its industrial foundation — joining the mainstays of oil, gas, and petrochemicals — and creating a new economic backstop against the eventual decline of fossil fuels.
A Lawrence of Arabia for minerals now! yeoman to Anglo empire in setting/throttling/ minerals pricing.