{"id":1135860,"date":"2019-09-01T09:30:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T14:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1000778"},"modified":"2019-09-01T09:30:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-01T14:30:01","slug":"saudi-arabia-creates-new-ministry-of-industry-and-mineral-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1135860","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia creates new Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia announced that it has created an independent Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, separating it from the Energy Ministry, a move that is understood as part of the kingdom\u2019s strategy to diversify the economy away from oil.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In 2016, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a plan called Vision 2030 aimed at reducing the country\u2019s dependence on crude by reinforcing other economic and investment activities, increasing non-oil industry trade of goods and consumer products with other nations, and growing government spending on health, education, infrastructure, recreation, tourism, and the military.<\/p>\n<p>The creation of the new ministry falls within that larger vision and according to state news media, it will be fully independent starting on January 1, 2020. Bandar Al-Khorayef, a businessman from the Saudi industrial conglomerate Khorayef Group, will be the department\u2019s head.<\/p>\n<p>Under Al-Khorayef, the ministry should reach the goal of increasing the value of mining operations to reach $69.3 billion. Currently, the direct and indirect <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"contribution (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.austrade.gov.au\/australian\/export\/export-markets\/countries-and-economies\/saudi-arabia\/industries\/mining\" >contribution<\/a> of the sector to the kingdom\u2019s GDP is estimated to be around $21.3 billion.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Bandar Al-Khorayef, a businessman from the Saudi industrial conglomerate Khorayef Group, will\u00a0lead the new ministry<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Saudi Arabia\u2019s central and northern regions contain large amounts of bauxite, as well as silver, zinc, copper, magnesite, and kaolin deposits. The Middle Eastern country is also host to some of the world\u2019s largest reserves of phosphate and tantalum, and of up to 20 Moz of gold in known deposits.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign firms are being encouraged to start taking a look at such deposits, as part of the mandate of the new ministry -which is expected to oversee the Saudi Industrial Property Authority or MODON- is also to attract leading global companies. Within Vision 2030,\u00a0 foreign direct investment is being pushed to contribute 5.7% of the GDP from the current 3.8%. In parallel, the private sector\u2019s contribution to the GDP is predicted to rise to 65% from the current 40%.<\/p>\n<p>Just over a month ago, the kingdom also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/saudi-arabia-expands-reach-of-28bn-fund-to-energy-mining\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"expanded the mandate (opens in a new tab)\">expanded the mandate<\/a> of its $28-billion Saudi Industrial Development Fund to allow the financing of energy, logistics and mining projects. Previously, the fund only provided financing to local manufacturing businesses.<\/p>\n<p>The changes allow companies to apply for financing options such as multi-purpose term loans and acquisition financing, while ventures outside the country that have Saudi investors are now eligible to apply for funding.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Meanwhile, oil\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2019\/aug\/31\/saudi-arabia-announces-new-oil-minister-royal-court-chief-prince-mohammed\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"The Guardian (opens in a new tab)\">The Guardian<\/a><\/em>, the appointment of al-Khorayef for the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources is seen as a reduction in influence for the energy minister, Khalid al-Falih.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, this is taking place as the world\u2019s top oil exporter is working towards a $2-trillion stock market listing of the state-owned oil company Aramco, which is considered the most profitable company on the planet with revenues of $355.9 billion in 2018.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/saudi-arabia-creates-new-ministry-of-industry-and-mineral-resources\/\">Saudi Arabia creates new Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/\">MINING.COM<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The move is understood as part of the kingdom&rsquo;s strategy to diversify the economy away from oil.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/saudi-arabia-creates-new-ministry-of-industry-and-mineral-resources\/\">Saudi Arabia creates new Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/\">MINING.COM<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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