Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources issued 21 new mining licenses last October, including 16 licenses for quarries of building materials, four licenses for exploration, and one license for surplus mineral ores, according to a report issued by the Ministry's National Industrial Information Center (NIIC). The report stated that the number of valid mining licenses in the sector until the end of October amounted to 2,164 licenses, with the Riyadh region acquiring the largest number of the total mining licenses in force in the sector with 494 licenses. Riyadh was followed by the Makkah region 404 licenses, the Eastern Region 364, the Madinah Region 235, Aseer Region 184, Tabuk Region 125, Qassim Region 101, Hail Region 71, Jizan Region 68, Najran Region 47, Northern Borders Region 25, and Al-Baha Region 23, and the Al-Jouf Region 23 licenses. The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources seeks to protect the mining sector and maximize its value per the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 and the National Industry Development and Logistics Program, to transform mining into the third pillar of the national industry. The ministry also seeks to exploit the mineral resources in the Kingdom, which are spread in more than 5,300 sites, at an estimated value of around SR5 trillion. — SPA
