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Saudi Arabia shortlists 13 bidders for two mining sites 

By Pramod Kumar
Mining, Person, Outdoors Reuters/Ivan Alvarado
Deposits in the bidding areas include copper, zinc and silver

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has shortlisted 13 local and international companies for the second licensing stage of the Muhaddad and Ar Ridaniyah exploration sites. 

The Muhaddad exploration site, located in Bisha within the Asir geological terrane, covers 139 sq km and includes copper, zinc and lead ores deposits, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Ar Ridaniyah exploration ⁠site is based in the Riyadh region within the Al-Dawadmi geological terrane. It spans an area of more than 75 sq km and includes deposits of zinc and silver ore. 

Qualified bidders for the Muhaddad and Ar Ridaniyah sites are African Rainbow Minerals Limited, Alara Saudi Ventures Pty Ltd, Almasane Alkobra Mining Company, Barrick Gold Corporation, ERG Arabia Limited, Moxico Resources, Saudi Arabian Mining Company, Yilmaden Holding, Vedanta Limited, Abdulrahman Saad AlRashid & Sons Company, Ajlan & Bros Mining Company & Norin Mining Company Consortium, Panoro Minerals Ltd, and Royal Road & MSB Holding Company Consortium. 

Qualified bidders can submit their proposals by the end of May, and successful applicants are scheduled to be announced the following month.

The ministry emphasised that local and international mining companies are still welcome to participate and visit the publicly available data room in the three open exploration sites at Umm Hadid, Bir Umq and Jabal Sahabiyah. 

Qualified bidders for these sites will also be announced in June. 

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