Congratulations to WGM’s own Al Workman on another resoundingly successful presentation at this year’s PDAC conference. Al has established himself as the de facto gatekeeper of Western mining interests in Saudi Arabia. He is perhaps the leading global expert on the burgeoning mineral reserves within “The Kingdom” as he so often refers to it with effortless familiarity. After his delivery, Al was inundated with requests for copies of his presentation. Consequently he has decided to share an abridged version in PDF form here. You can also view a similar presentation from January of 2022 on youtube by following this link:
When most people think of Saudi Arabia, they think of oil. Although its hydrocarbon production capacity is legendary, Saudi Arabia is blessed with a wide range of industrial mineral deposits as well as economically significant mesothermal and epithermal gold deposits, VMS-type base metal deposits and carbonate-hosted zinc deposits. It is ranked 7th as one of the largest phosphate producers and will probably improve its ranking in the near future. It has significant potential for a variety of other deposit models currently being tested by the Saudi Geological Survey: porphyry copper, SEDEX, REEs associated with alkaline granites and various uranium deposit types. Over the last 15 years, Saudi Arabia has steadily moved to streamline its regulatory framework to encourage investment in the solid Minerals Sector, and it has been rewarded with increased activity, particularly by domestic companies. Growth is
also seen in the support sector with expanded geochemical laboratory and drilling services. As a destination for exploration investment, Saudi Arabia deserves a second look.
