Saudi Arabia has signed nine significant investment agreements in the metals and mining sector, exceeding $9.3bn (SR34.88bn) in value, with major global companies such as Vedanta from India and China’s Zijin Group, Reuters reported.

The announcement came during the World Investment Conference in Riyadh, under the aegis of the Saudi National Investment Strategy’s Global Supply Chain Resilience Initiative.

This move is a strategic step in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan, which aims to diversify its economy away from oil and attract $100bn annually in foreign investment by 2030.

Vedanta is set to establish copper facilities at Ras Al-Khair with a capital expenditure of SR7.5bn, including a smelter, a refinery with a capacity of 400,000 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and a 300,000mtpa copper rod plant.

The project will ensure domestic self-sufficiency in copper production and contribute an estimated SR70bn to economic growth, highlighted the conference presentation.

Vedanta base metals CEO Chris Griffith told the news agency that the company’s interest in the Saudi market was mainly due to the available incentives – including land, water and power services – as well as potentially being able to tap into a lower cost of capital.

Griffith said: “There’s some (incentives) that are fairly obvious and there’s some that are less obvious that we are working with the Saudi Government on now.”

Vedanta may consider taking on a local partner to help advance the projects, Griffith added.

Zijin plans to invest between SR5bn and SR6bn, with the initial phase dedicated to constructing a zinc smelter capable of producing 100,000 tons per annum (tpa) of zinc ingots and 200,000tpa of sulphuric acid.

The development will progress through multiple phases, with plans for a lithium carbonate extraction facility producing 60,000tpa of battery-grade lithium carbonate, followed by a copper refinery with an output of 200,000tpa of copper cathodes and approximately 50,000tpa of electrolytic copper foil.

Hastings Technology Metals from Australia will embark on constructing processing facilities for rare earth elements in Saudi Arabia, representing an investment of SR5.6bn–7.2bn.

The project’s phases include a hydrometallurgical processing plant, a solvent extraction separation facility and a rare earth elements downstream processing facility, sourcing materials from local mines.

Platinum Group Metals from Vancouver is exploring opportunities alongside Ajlan & Bros Mining to establish a SR1.9bn platinum group metals smelter and base metals refinery in Saudi Arabia, with feedstock sourced from South Africa’s Waterberg mine, which the Canadian company is developing.