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Minerals and Mining
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Saudi geologists review geological surveys of the Kingdom
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As early as 1,000 B.C., the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula extracted gold, silver and copper from the mine called Mahd Al-Dhahab (Cradle of Gold), located about 180 miles northeast of Jeddah. Once the greatest gold mine in all of the Middle East and Africa, it is now being worked again as the most advanced project in Saudi Arabia's effort to diversify its sources of income by establishing a mining industry. Production of gold totaled 5.5 tons in 1992. Several other gold mines have been explored and substantial reserves identified. By 1998, Saudi Arabia is expected to produce 15 tons of gold annually. Modern mineral exploration, in fact, has unearthed not only gold, silver, and copper, but also tin, tungsten, nickel, chrome, zinc, lead, phosphates, iron ore, uranium, bauxite, potassium ore and even table salt. The Kingdom is probing the mineral-rich sediments on the Red Sea floor for commercial exploitation, and operating a pilot plant to process these at Yanbu.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources is playing a major role in developing Saudi Arabia's mineral resources and establishing related industries. Discoveries of metallic and non-metallic minerals suggest that these natural resources will contribute significantly to the Kingdom's continued development in the near future.
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