The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is gearing up for the 2023 edition of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF), one year after the inaugural conference was held.
The forum, scheduled for Jan. 10-12 in the capital Riyadh, aims to further discussions among industry players on the growing demand for critical minerals as the world seeks solutions to climate change. It also seeks to accelerate the exploration and production of critical minerals and metals in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.
Organizers expect more than 6,000 people to attend the conference, including more than 150 representatives of mining majors and companies, more than 200 global industry speakers, and more than 50 government ministers and officials.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman (left), Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, speaks at the 2022 Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Credit: FMF
Prominent speakers on the agenda include Bandar Khorayef Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources; Mark Bristow, CEO of Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD); Mike Henry, CEO of BHP (NYSE: BHP; LSE: BHP; ASX: BHP); and Robert Friedland, CEO of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN).
Barrick operates the Jabal Sayid copper mine in the country in a 50-50 joint venture with Saudi state-owned miner Ma’aden, while Friedland’s Ivanhoe Electric (TSX: IE; NYSE-AM: IE) is competing to secure a large zinc-copper exploration licence 175 km west of Riyadh.
Despite its position as the world’s number one exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia has committed to a low carbon economy. Its Vision 2030 plan seeks to build up its mining sector by attracting US$170 billion in investment by the end of the decade.
The return of FMF comes as construction of the zero-carbon footprint, green energy-powered city of Neom continues in the kingdom’s northwest. Saudi Arabia has set aside US$500 billion for the project. Financing for a planned US$5-billion green hydrogen plant in Neom, said to be one of the world’s largest, is set to be completed in the coming months, with construction expected to finish in 2026, Bloomberg reported in November.
At the 2023 FMF, keynote speeches, fireside chats and panel discussions will fall under five broad themes: critical mineral development in the world today, the context of Saudi Arabia and the wider region, decarbonizing supply chains, digital & new technology, and communities and the future workforce.
One keynote address covers a five to 10-year outlook on the kingdom’s role “as a global leader in renewable energy.”
It will consider what is required for large-scale solar and hydrogen production using renewable energy to become economic, what type of projects should be supported and the connections between renewable energy sources and technology.
At last year’s FMF, Khalid Al-Mudaifer, vice-minister for mining affairs at the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources touted the kingdom’s establishment of its Minerals Investment Law in 2021 as a major achievement of Vision 2030. The government also opened online access to its National Geographic Database, a portal of geological, geophysical, and geochemical information with 10,000 detailed reports on mining targets and prospects that goes back 80 years.
Several panels and discussion sessions will focus on the place of Saudi Arabia and regional countries in the critical minerals supply and demand gap, outlining mineral hot spots in the region, permitting procedures, and the skills needed for transitioning away from oil and gas.
In a sign of social changes in the Middle East, one panel will look at women in mining and how economic trends will affect women in the sector.
In the lead-up to the FMF, the Development Partner Institute (DPI) and strategic consulting firm Clareo Partners published a joint paper stressing the need for standardized environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building economies free of fossil fuels.
The two U.S.-based organizations point to the role that Saudi Arabia can play in helping with the creation of universally-adopted principles that support the adequate, affordable, secure and responsible sourcing of minerals.
With the kingdom positioned to build a “triangle of trust” between government, communities and mining companies, the organizations identify three areas where Saudi Arabia can make the biggest impact: it’s already serving as a forum for open dialogue at FMF; the country’s hydrogen and solar energy projects are building a clean energy platform for processes like copper smelting and battery recycling; and the kingdom could expedite more access to project financing and infrastructure to support mining.
Peter Bryant, chair of Clareo and DPI, concludes in the paper that taking on the critical minerals challenge requires a “mindset shift”, investments in innovation and a multi-stakeholder approach that considers the goals of every player in the value chain.
“Saudi Arabia now has an exciting opportunity to champion this new level of innovation and collaboration, built on trust and shared purpose, to deliver a mineral supply that can better meet the demands of all companies navigating the energy transition to a green revolution,” said Bryant, who is also one of the keynote speakers at FMF.
The summit’s second edition comes as Saudi Arabia increasingly comes into focus as a potential major player in the global clean energy transition.
At a Mines and Money conference held in London, U.K. in early December, Khalid Al-Mudaifer said the kingdom plans to explore a region stretching from Africa to Central Asia for critical minerals, and estimates the country sits on US$1.3 trillion worth of minerals, energy metals and gold.
And at the Mining Indaba in South Africa last spring, Robert Friedland pointed to Africa and the Arabian Shield as two regions where important minerals would be produced.
“This is where humanity is going to make it or break it,” he said.
The Arabian Shield is a vast occurrence of Precambrian crystalline rocks that flanks countries on both sides of the Red Sea.
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