Ras Al Khair Industrial City: Inside Saudi Arabia’s Bold, Integrated Mining and Metals Hub

Ras Al Khair industrial city is a planned mining and metals hub on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast along the Arabian Gulf. It is also known as the Minerals Industrial City. The site sits about 60 km north of Jubail Industrial City and spans more than 287 sq. kilometers, under the oversight of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu.

Its scale is matched by its investment story. By the end of 2025, total investments in Ras Al-Khair City for Mining Industries reached around SR165 billion. The private sector accounted for more than 90 percent of that total. The same reporting also notes investments in the zone reaching around SR27 billion, including SR12 billion in foreign direct investment by the end of 2025.

The city was developed to support economic diversification under Saudi Vision 2030 and to reduce oil dependency. The concept is simple: bring mining, processing, utilities, and export links into one place. This integrated approach supports supply chains for products such as aluminum, steel, ferroalloys, and fertilizers, while also targeting emerging materials like titanium and rare earth metals.

What Makes This Industrial Hub Work

Ras Al Khair’s infrastructure is built for heavy industry. Sources describe power generation plants, desalination facilities, gas and electricity networks, stormwater drainage, potable water and seawater cooling systems, wastewater treatment, road and railway networks, and telecommunications. Power is supplied by the 2,400 MW Ras Al-Khair Power and Desalination Plant.

Anchor projects help explain why the city matters. The Ras Al-Khair Aluminum Smelter is described as Saudi Arabia’s first greenfield aluminum production site, with a capacity of 780,000 metric tons per year. It includes two potlines, a carbon plant, and the world’s largest integrated cast house with 15 furnaces, developed by Ma’aden in partnership with Alcoa and engineered by Bechtel.

Other industry plans and facilities in the sources include phosphate and ammonia production sites operated by Ma’aden, steel manufacturing by the Saudi Iron & Steel Co. (Hadeed), and shipbuilding. The King Salman Global Maritime Industries Complex is under construction in Ras Al-Khair and is expected to be the largest shipyard in the world when completed. On the logistics side, Ras Al-Khair Port is described as the kingdom’s newest industrial port and a key mineral export link.