What to Expect From the Tenth Saudi Mining Licensing Round: Big Belt Moves in Hail

The tenth Saudi mining licensing round is positioned as the next step after a ninth round that the ministry described as the largest in the kingdom’s history to date. The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources said the ninth round awarded 172 mining sites to winning entities, including 76 sites that moved to a multi-round public auction. The ministry also reported total committed exploration spend of over SAR671 million during the first two years of the winners’ work programmes. That backdrop matters because it frames expectations for the tenth round in terms of scale, competition, and the use of digital and auction-based processes.

For the tenth round, the ministry said licensing will advance across an area of 13,000 square kilometers. The coverage spans Madinah, Makkah, Riyadh, Qassim, and Hail. The ministry also said this round will introduce new sites that extend the mineralised belts that were available in the ninth round. Reuters described the offering as bidding for three mineral exploration licences across that 13,000 square km area, and said the licences cover newly defined belts in the same five regions. Those belts include areas prospective for gold, silver, copper, zinc, and lead.

How the Hail Mineral Belt Fits the Strategy

Hail’s inclusion in the tenth round matters because the ministry is explicitly linking the next set of sites to an “extension” of mineralised belts from the ninth round. In the ninth round, the ministry said the offering covered over 24,000 square kilometers across the Ad-Duwaihi/Nabitah gold belt in the Riyadh Region, plus the Nuqrah and Sukhaybirah/As-Safra gold belts in the Madinah and Qassim regions. TradeArabia also stated these areas are rich in strategic minerals, including gold, copper, silver, zinc and nickel. With Hail now listed among the tenth round regions, the expectation is more belt-scale continuity, but with newly defined belts and new site choices.

Timing and deal flow are also part of what to expect. The ministry said it will announce additional exploration and investment opportunities during the fifth edition of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF), scheduled in Riyadh from January 13 to 15. That suggests the tenth Saudi mining licensing round will not be the only channel for near-term opportunities, and that investors should track the forum for incremental releases. It also reinforces the ministry’s emphasis on structured stages, since the ninth round used an electronic bidding platform and a multi-round public auction for sites with more than one bidder.

Investors are also watching policy and confidence signals around licensing. Mining.com.au reported reforms that prioritize tenure security, efficiency, transparency, and a fast permitting process, with clear guidelines on licensing and environmental considerations. Another Mining.com.au analysis noted a jump in projects drilled from 58 in 2023 to 160 in 2024, and stated Saudi Arabia’s mine site exploration budget increased from US$21 million in 2022 to US$146 million in 2025. Kitco also cited private sector spend on exploration licenses rising to SAR770 million (USD 205 million) in 2024 from SAR155 million (USD 41.3 million) in 2020, while government spending through geological programs rose from SAR11 million (USD 2.9 million) in 2020 to SAR180 million (USD 48 million) in 2024.

Finally, the tenth round sits inside a broader economic narrative. Multiple sources say Vision 2030 positions mining as the third pillar of the national industrial economy. The ministry also linked licensing momentum to unlocking estimated mineral wealth of SAR9.4 trillion ($2.5 trillion). With the ninth round attracting qualified bidders and producing substantial committed exploration spend, expectations for the tenth Saudi mining licensing round will likely center on how quickly new Hail-linked belt opportunities move from newly defined targets to awarded licences, and how transparently the process scales across five regions.