The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources announced the winning of the consortium of the Saudi Arabian Mining Company "Maaden" and Barrick Gold T7 Ltd. "Barrick" to obtain a license to explore the mining site of Umm al-Damar, which is the second competition offered by the Ministry as part of its plans to offer a number of exploration licenses through competition under the umbrella of the Accelerated Exploration Initiative, indicating that the site attracted the interest of more than 20 local and international mining companies to obtain an exploration license, 13 of which qualified for the bidding stage. The Ministry stated that it had received two bids to compete for a license to explore the "Umm Al-Damar Mining" site, after fulfilling the qualification criteria, the most important of which are technical expertise, financial ability, and commitment to community and environmental management plans and related work programs. The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources indicated that the bidding stage witnessed strong competition between the leading mining companies internationally, and that the alliance confirmed its commitment to meeting the evaluation criteria set by the ministry, in line with the mining investment law and the objectives of the mining competition project, the most important of which are enhancing spending on exploration in the Kingdom and developing local mining sites' neighboring communities. The Ministry indicated the commitment of the "Maaden" and "Baric" alliance to spend more than SAR 47 million to conduct several works to accelerate exploration at the site, including drilling more than 54,000 meters and implementing an integrated geophysical and chemical survey at the Umm Al-Damar site. The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources added that the alliance will allocate more than SAR one million to various community initiatives, which include the employing neighboring communities, the development of the local technical college in the governorate of Mahd Al-Dahab, the training of graduates during the two-year exploration program, practical training for six university students, and sponsoring one of the programs School sciences, in addition to a safety awareness program. The Umm al-Damar site is located 300 km northeast of Jeddah and 25 km northwest of the city of Mahd al-Dahab, on the Jabal Sayed mining belt. The continuous exploration activities at the site represent an important milestone in transforming the mining sector in the Kingdom into the third pillar of the national economy, within the framework of the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program and the Kingdom's Vision 2030.
