By:Zawya

Riyadh: The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has extended the deadline for pre-qualification applications for the ninth round of exploration license competition to June 16, 2025.

According to a recent ministry release, this extension provides investors additional time to assess investment opportunities across the three mineralized belts covering 24,423 square kilometers, ensuring a fair opportunity to prepare and submit the pre-qualification applications.

This also supports the ministry’s broader plan to open over 50,000 square kilometers of prospective mining sites for exploration licensing throughout 2025.

The targeted belts include Al-Naqrah Belt and Al-Sukhaybirah (Al-Safraa) Belt in Madinah Region, and Al-Duwaihi (Nabaitah) Belt in Riyadh Region. These sites contain a variety of precious and base metals, including gold, copper, silver, zinc, and nickel.

The ministry emphasized that this year's exploration license competitions will utilize a fully automated system to ensure transparency and fairness for all investors.

The release outlined the key dates for the online bidding process: publication of bidding guidelines on May 30, 2025; the online auction on July 1, 2025; the bidding deadline on August 15, 2025; and the announcement of winners on August 30, 2025.