Gulf Construction Online - Maaden, Artar consortiums eye Saudi exploration licence

Construction News

Maaden, Artar consortiums eye Saudi exploration licence

15-10-2022

Saudi Arabia has received bids from a consortium of Saudi Arabia Mining Company (Ma’aden) and Barrick Gold T7 and a consortium of Abdulrahman Saad Al Rashid & Sons (Artar) and Gold and Minerals Company for the Umm Ad Damar licensing round.

In line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which seeks to transform mining sector into the third pillar of the national economy, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIM) has announced the proposals received for the Umm Ad Damar licensing round:

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has announced that it has received two bids for the licensing round of Umm Ad Damar Exploration Site.

One is from a consortium of Saudi Arabia Mining Company (Ma’aden) & Barrick Gold T7 Limited (Barrick) and the other from Abdulrahman Saad Al Rashid & Sons Company (Artar) & Gold and Minerals Company.

Umm Ad Damar is an early exploration site that is part of the mineral-rich Arabian Shield. The site covers more than 40 sq km and includes copper, zinc, gold and silver and there are four mineralized prospects that have been identified at Umm Ad Damar.

In addition to the technical capability and financial capacity, qualified bidders will be assessed on their proposed environmental and social management plans including the level of their commitment to the social development of the local communities, said the ministry.

As stated in the information memorandum, if two or more bidders have close scores, they will compete in the open Multi-Round Auction to showcase transparency.

The ministry recently concluded the multi-round auction for the Khnaiguiyah mining site, which resulted in the win for a consortium between Moxico Resources and Ajlan & Brothers Mining Company.

The Khnaiguiyah exploration licence is the first license to be issued pursuant to a competitive bidding process under the Saudi Arabian Mining Investment Law, during which the Ministry evaluated six proposals from qualified bidders.

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral resources has announced that it is planning to release multiple additional exploration licenses by the end of this year.

All of them will be awarded through a competitive bidding process in alignment with the kingdom’s main objectives in the licensing round: transparency, compliance and collaboration with mining sector, on the path to advance the journey of exploiting the vast mineral sector in the Kingdom.-TradeArabia News Service