Saudi mining plan gets $3bn EV boost from Australian firm

Saudi mining plan gets $3bn EV boost from Australian firm

An Australian company plans to invest $3bn in Saudi Arabia in a bet on the metals used in batteries for electric vehicles. EV Metals Group’s spending will be on building plants to process minerals including lithium and nickel, and later expand into exploring for the battery metals, managing director and chief executive officer Michael Naylor said. It would be one of the first major deals since Saudi Arabia passed a law to attract investments in mining as it looks to diversify its oil-dominated economy. “We’re the first mover and we’ve got the know-how, the technology and the technical capabilities to bring to the kingdom to explore for these metals,” Naylor said in an interview. Based on its studies, EV Metals is “optimistic” it will find significant deposits of the materials used for electric car batteries in Saudi Arabia, he said. The processing facilities will be developed over the next nine years, Naylor said. The company also has more than 15 applications for exploration licenses in the kingdom, and is looking for deposits of lithium, nickel and cobalt, he said. If successful, it would be the first to unlock the metals in the kingdom. The rush to secure these raw materials