Mining & Materials current GCC market status and evidence monitor

Executive summary

Evidence

Findings

• Saudi Arabia reported 2,925 valid mining licences at the end of 2025, compared with 2,401 in 2024, and 736 licences issued during 2025. These figures show regulatory activity across multiple licence classes. They do not identify an economically recoverable reserve, a financed development or a supplier package. Horizon therefore records the licence holder, licence class, mineral, area, expiry and work obligation before the record enters a commercial pipeline.
• The Saudi Ministry indicators reported through SPA also place 2025 mining investment at SAR 189.4 billion and the sector contribution to GDP at SAR 138 billion. Both are national context. Neither figure should be allocated to a particular deposit, buyer or equipment category without a project budget, sponsor and procurement record.
• Saudi licence duration changes by right and material class. The Mining Investment Law limits reconnaissance to two years, renewable once for no more than two further years. The official investor guide describes exploration for Classes A and B as an initial term of up to five years within a maximum fifteen-year duration, while mining licences can run up to thirty years for qualifying areas above one square kilometre and up to twenty years below that threshold. Duration is not a maturity score: every opportunity still needs expenditure, environmental, social, feasibility and closure evidence.
• Oman reported six new concession agreements during 2025, bringing the total to 28 concession areas operated by 13 companies. The same official review reported 65 million tonnes of output, 60 million tonnes of sales valued at about OMR 159 million, investment above OMR 105 million and copper-concentrate exports near 95,000 tonnes. The totals mix minerals, operations and stages; they should not be converted into an addressable-market estimate for one supplier.
• Oman’s 2025 bidding round offered four areas through Taqa: D-11 at 1,084 square kilometres, E-22 at 810, B-14 at 2,673 and H-51 at 4,181. The Ministry describes preliminary mineral indications, not compliant reserves. An entrant should obtain the official data package, identify the evaluation timetable and test whether it meets the technical-competence and financial-solvency requirements before pricing a bid or partnership.
• The two country systems illustrate different commercial moments. A published licence population can support account discovery; an announced concession round can support bid preparation. Neither supports revenue recognition until the responsible rights holder, current stage, funding, technical scope and purchasing route are evidenced.
• The current Saudi mining-licence route is more specific than a generic investment sequence. Taadeen states that the applicant must be a company registered in the Kingdom with activity related to the requested licence and capital of at least SAR 100,000. The site must sit within a valid exploration licence, and the application must evidence an economically feasible deposit, mineral resources and reserves, technical competence, financial capacity, an environmental permit, environmental and social assessment, rehabilitation and closure plans, and a financial guarantee. A foreign supplier that does not intend to hold the mineral right should therefore pursue an operator or EPC vendor route rather than reproduce the licence-holder package.
• Taadeen currently lists a maximum mining-licence area of 50 square kilometres, an application fee of SAR 10,000, an issuance fee of SAR 20,000 and annual surface rent of SAR 10,000 per square kilometre. These are official administrative charges, not the full cost of obtaining or operating the right. Geological work, studies, environmental compliance, land and water access, the closure guarantee, infrastructure and operating capital remain separate and can dominate the investment case.
• Oman changed part of the route to market for raw minerals in 2026. The Ministry states that Oman Minerals Trading Company received the exclusive right to export gypsum and chromite ore from June 2026, while domestic sales remain outside that mandate. The official update also states a minimum 36 percent concentration for exported chromite ore, with processed chromite subject to ministerial approval. A trader or processor must therefore classify the mineral, concentration, processing state, destination and domestic-versus-export transaction before assuming that an existing commercial route remains available.
• The UAE proposition is primarily industrial and downstream rather than a single federal mine-entry route. MoIAT currently presents a processed-minerals product group of AED 1.6 billion over an average six-year forecast period. The figure is a published offtake opportunity, not a purchase order or a guarantee to an entrant. Qualification still depends on the named buyer, technical specification, forecast call-off, local-content treatment, plant and product approvals, commercial terms and an award process.
• KEZAD reported Metal Park as operational in January 2026 with a 450,000-square-metre footprint, AED 430 million of investment and 27 members using production, storage and business infrastructure. This is evidence of an accessible downstream-metals operating ecosystem, not evidence that every member is a buyer. A location case should test service availability, free-zone or mainland route, port and rail handling, feedstock, utilities, environmental permission, customer proximity and total conversion cost against an independent facility.
• Qatar’s official industrial route is staged: project and land allocation, environmental approval and industrial licensing, design and building permission, construction and services, operation, then post-operation control. The published 15-to-30-working-day estimate applies only to the industrial licence after a complete file. It is not a claim that a factory can be opened in that period.
• Kuwait’s official new-industrial-facility service requires feasibility and technical studies, machinery and raw-material information, environmental location review and a product-standards undertaking. It states a capital threshold above KWD 250,000 and frames applicant eligibility around Kuwait and GCC persons or companies. The service delivers preliminary approval, not a production licence or a complete foreign-investment route.
• Bahrain publishes separate controls for preliminary approval, the final industrial licence and industrial registration. Preliminary approval expressly does not permit manufacturing. The final licence is reported as valid for one year and permits implementation only after other approvals; registration must follow within 60 days of production start and includes a site visit.
• Saudi Arabia’s 2026–2027 preliminary exploration-licensing plan identifies 17 sites across eight regions. It is a planning signal, not 17 open tenders or awards. The live Taadeen round record remains authoritative for stage, block data, participation window and documents; Round 10, for example, is displayed as ended and covered three sites totalling 11,302 square kilometres.
• The Saudi Round 10 guidance separates prequalification from licence issuance. A successful bidder still faces an award letter, incorporation where required, work programme, environmental-impact management, social-impact management and a performance financial guarantee from a bank licensed in the Kingdom. A shortlisted or successful-bidder status therefore cannot be treated as an operating exploration right.
• Oman’s Taqa platform now carries bidding for public sites and concession areas and is intended to expand into licensing, revenue, contract and inspection management. The statutory concession range is 20 to 30 years and at least five square kilometres, but the agreement becomes effective only after the Ministry process, negotiation, signature and Royal Decree ratification. Platform access, preferred-bidder notice and signed agreement are different states.
• The UAE product-offtake page is a demand-aggregation instrument, not a purchase order. Its heavy-industry page currently shows AED 1.6 billion for processed minerals over an average six-year forecast period, while the wider product-offtake page groups multiple sectors and products. A supplier must still identify the strategic partner, exact specification, forecast basis, localisation route, qualification, call-off mechanism and binding buyer commitment.
• Exploration, drilling, geophysics, resource definition and data quality tied to a licensed area and funded work programme
• Mine safety, water, energy, fleet, maintenance and recovery productivity measured against an operating baseline
• Decision-chain evidence: Ministry or geological authority and licence or concession holder. Record the named institution, accountable role, current need and dated route into the decision.
• Decision-chain evidence: Competent geologist, engineer, laboratory, environmental adviser and technical consultant controlling evidence quality. Record the named institution, accountable role, current need and dated route into the decision.
• Evidence gate: Verified licence, mineral, sponsor, project stage, technical report and funding status.
• Evidence gate: Environmental, land, water, community, safety and closure requirements.

Method and limits

How this brief was produced

Horizon integrated official sector authorities, multilateral or research sources and the reviewed GCC sector dossier. The brief tracks market structure, commercial signals and evidence gates without inventing a regional market-size number.

Original sources