Int’l Mining Community Highlights Importance of Saudi Minerals in Meeting Global Demand

Int’l Mining Community Highlights Importance of Saudi Minerals in Meeting Global Demand

Officials and investors emphasized on Wednesday the importance to uncover the Kingdom’s mining wealth, given the gap the world faces in the need for minerals and renewable energy.

During the first day of the International Mining Conference in Riyadh, senior officials and heads of major international companies said Saudi Arabia was a stable source of energy, shedding light on the Kingdom’s insightful vision of the importance of the mining sector.

Grant Shapps, British Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pointed to the presence of 14 strategic minerals in Saudi Arabia, underlining the importance of the global conference, which has brought together many investors in the world to discuss the future of mining.

Eng. Naseer Ahamed, Sri Lankan Minister of Environment and Foreign Investment Promotion, unveiled new legislation in his country, which seeks to facilitate investment and monitoring in the sector.

Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), stressed the importance of the demographic dividend and the power of the youth in Saudi Arabia, noting that Riyadh would not face a problem in finding young national competencies in the mining sector.

Robert Friedland, founder and CEO of the Canadian Ivanhoe Mines Group, stated that Saudi Arabia was a stable source of energy,