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Saudi to award Umm Ad Damar mining licence in November

By Pramod Kumar
Stock photo of a copper mine. Saudi reported $8bn of foreign direct investment in mining last year Reuters
Omani firms with experience in mining sector projects can submit their bids by June 11

The Saudi Geological Survey has completed the pre-qualification phase to award the exploration license for the Umm Ad Damar mining project, CEO Abdullah Al-Shamrani told Arab News.

“The project will go through different cycles, but by the end of November, we will see the winning company,” he said.

Umm Ad Damar covers an estimated area of 40 square kilometre northeast of Jeddah. The site includes several mineral deposits, including copper, zinc, gold and silver.

Al-Shamrani said that 13 companies have pre-qualified for bidding to get exploration licenses.

The Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Maaden), AMAK, Ajlan and Bros. Mining Co. and Vedanta are among the qualified bidders.

Saudi Arabia expects its mineral wealth to exceed earlier estimates of SAR4.89 trillion ($1.3 trillion).

The kingdom is planning to triple the spending on the exploration of metals over the next three years, the newspaper said.

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