Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s mining sector has achieved a serious world milestone, leaping its rating from 104th in 2013 to twenty third in 2024 on the Funding Attractiveness Index.
Saudi Arabia surpassed main mining locations in Asia and Latin America within the index, ready by Fraser Institute in its 2024 Annual Survey of Mining Firms. This achievement solidifies Saudi Arabia’s place as one of many world’s fastest-rising powers within the mining sector.
In keeping with the report, Saudi Arabia made exceptional progress within the Coverage Notion Index, rising from 82nd globally in 2013 to twentieth in 2024, reflecting rising worldwide confidence in its steady regulatory atmosphere. The Finest Practices Mineral Potential Index noticed an unprecedented leap, transferring from 58th in 2013 to twenty fourth in 2024, underscoring the size of the Kingdom’s huge and untapped mineral wealth, supported by ongoing geological surveys, discoveries, and extensively attended mining licensing rounds.
Commending the exceptional achievement, Deputy Minister of Trade and Mineral Assets for Mining Affairs Eng. Khalid Al-Mudaifer mentioned: “This excellent efficiency displays the structural transformation and holistic efforts being pushed throughout the mining and mineral sector beneath Imaginative and prescient 2030.”
Over the previous few years, Saudi Arabia has constructed a globally aggressive funding atmosphere, underpinned by clear laws, accessible geological knowledge, together with some of the intensive geological surveys of the Arabian Protect, aggressive incentives, and world-class infrastructure.
“Our focus stays on maximizing the financial worth of our mineral sources, creating jobs for residents, and localizing provide chains. Mining is now not a standard sector; moderately, it has change into a key driver of business and financial development, and we’re dedicated to constructing on this momentum to make sure sustainable success,” he mentioned.
The Fraser Institute famous that Saudi Arabia’s success was pushed by broad regulatory transformations protecting safety of tenure, taxation, environmental laws, infrastructure, and group engagement. These efforts enabled Saudi Arabia to enter the highest quartile of the index for the primary time.
The report additionally highlighted that traders expressed no considerations concerning political stability—one of many Kingdom’s key strengths—and praised the Mining Exploration Enablement Program as an efficient device for lowering funding dangers and growing confidence in early-stage tasks.
In keeping with the report’s knowledge, the Kingdom has achieved distinctive enhancements in key indicators between 2013 and 2024, together with 305.8 % enchancment within the readability and effectiveness of mining administration, from 17 % in 2013 to 69 % in 2024, rating eleventh globally; 82.2 % enchancment in readability of land use for mining actions, from 45 % in 2013 to 82 % in 2024, rating seventh globally; 102.2 % enchancment in labor laws, from 45 % in 2013 to 91 % in 2024; and 81.8 % enchancment within the high quality of geological databases, from 33 % in 2013 to 60 % in 2024.
The report praised the Kingdom’s steady regulatory atmosphere and bold reforms, which have strengthened worldwide investor confidence and solidified Saudi Arabia’s standing as a world-class mining funding vacation spot—totally aligned with Imaginative and prescient 2030’s purpose of diversifying the economic system and creating strategic sectors.
The Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Firms is among the world’s most trusted benchmarks for evaluating mining funding environments and is extensively utilized by traders, governments, and monetary establishments worldwide.