In a virtual signing ceremony launched from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and headed by His Excellency Bandar Al-Khorayef; Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Chairman of the Board Directors of the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), one contract and three contract awarding documents were signed, as a part of the SGS ambitious Regional Geological Survey Program. The signing was between SGS and Sander Geophysics Arabia Ltd. (SGAL), Xcalibur Airborne Geophysics Company, China Geological Survey, and a Consortium of the United Kingdom's International Geoscience Services Limited (IGS) and the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK). In a comment on the event, His Excellency Minster Al-Khorayef said: "This is an exciting start to the data-gathering effort that forms the fundamental basis for the RGP, which, in turn, is key to the Kingdom's 2030 Vision that aims at transforming the mining sector into the third pillar of Saudi Arabian industry." The SGS clarified that during this phase of the RGP, it will focus on surveying and mapping some 600,000 square Kilometres of the mineral-rich Arabian Shield area in western Saudi Arabia, over the next six years, in a bid to better understand the existence and distribution of mineral resources in that area and provide a valuable database of geological knowledge to future mining investors and operators. --More 20:22 LOCAL TIME 17:22 GMT 0016 www.spa.gov.sa/2145867
