Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef said: “Saudi Arabia is committed to importing lithium from abroad to support its ambitions to produce electric car batteries and invest in this sector, indicating that attempts to provide these supplies locally are still at an early stage.”
“Lithium is a very important mineral that happens to be a very important part of the supply chain, especially for batteries,” Al-Kharif told Reuters in an interview on Sunday.
He added on the sidelines of the special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh: “I cannot imagine that we will live without it.”
Saudi Arabia has begun examining the possibility of extracting lithium from seawater and salty discharges from its oil fields in cooperation with Aramco, but it is not yet clear how successful these initiatives are.
“There are encouraging signs, but we need to do more,” Al-Kharif said.
He added: “For something to be economically viable, there are two things we need to consider: the size of the sediment and its concentration. “We don’t have enough evidence to say we have the right amount of them.”
- Establishment of the “Mineral Lighthouse”
The Public Investment Fund and its affiliated mining company (Ma’aden) established a joint project called (Manarat Al-Ma’adin) to invest in mining assets abroad.
Al-Khorayef said in response to a question about the Kingdom’s international investments in lithium, “I am completely confident that Saudi Arabia’s needs for natural resources will be met in one way or another. Either through the products we have in the Kingdom or through import, whether (through) Manara investments or other partners.”
Rodrigo Urquiza, head of international affairs at the Chilean Ministry of Mining, said last week: “The Saudi embassy in Santiago contacted the ministry about hosting a delegation from the Kingdom this year to discuss potential investments in the mining sector in Chile.”
On Thursday, Chilean Minister of Mining Aurora Williams refrained from giving further details about minerals that might be of interest to Saudi Arabia.
Al Kharif said he was not aware of any discussions with Chile regarding lithium licences. (Reuters)