Saudi To Create $6.9bn Mining City

Saudi Arabia has begun the process of creating an integrated mining city to the northeast of Turaif, which will have an initial investment of SR26 billion ($6.9 billion), the Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Ali Bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi as saying on Tuesday.

When complete, the project, built over 440 square kilometers, will add around SR15 billion to the Kingdom’s annual GDP, the minister said.

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and mining company Maaden conducted initial feasibility studies over three years to set up the North WA’AD City For Mining Industries, said the report.

Al-Naimi said in a statement that the establishment of the city would “provide job opportunities for young people and develop remote areas.”