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Saudi Arabia Launches Survey to Detect Mineral Deposits

Saudi Arabia launches first geophysical survey aircraft in the Dawadmi province in Riyadh region (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia launches first geophysical survey aircraft in the Dawadmi province in Riyadh region (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Launches Survey to Detect Mineral Deposits

Saudi Arabia launches first geophysical survey aircraft in the Dawadmi province in Riyadh region (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Saudi Arabia launches first geophysical survey aircraft in the Dawadmi province in Riyadh region (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia’s mining sector entered a new phase on Tuesday by launching a geophysical survey of the Arab Shield region in the Dawadmi province, which administratively belongs to Riyadh.

The survey covers more than 600,000 square kilometers and aims to discover mineral deposits in the region and attract new investments into the Kingdom’s mining sector. This will directly stimulate the Saudi economy.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Mudaifer announced the start of geophysical survey work in the Arab Shield region on Tuesday.

Al-Mudaifer made the announcement on behalf of the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Geological Survey Bandar Al-Khorayef.

He announced the start on Tuesday after launching in Dawadmi the first geophysical survey aircraft, which began geophysical survey work in the Arab Shield region.

The survey results, interpretations, and technical reports will be preserved and added to the National Geosciences Database (NGD), which will give earth sciences data to beneficiaries in various industries.

The data will provide a basis to attract investments in the mining sector, achieving one of the primary objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

Saudi Geological Survey CEO Abdullah Al-Shamrani stated that the authority seeks to gather diverse high-resolution geological data for the Arabian Shield.

Al-Shamrani added that the data will be used to support mineral exploration, which will help in Saudi Arabia’s economic growth and diversify its revenue sources.

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, the Kingdom is one of the world’s wealthiest countries in mineral resources, with an estimated value of $1.3 trillion.

A magnetic and radiological geophysical survey of the Arabian Shield in Saudi Arabia will be part of the aerial geophysical survey project.

According to Al-Shamrani, the authority also expects to gather high-resolution geomagnetic and radiometric data, as well as interpretations of magnetic and radiological maps that depict the most important geological formations and rock facies.

This will enable identifying and counting essential mineralized environments.

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Expert: Türkiye Anti-inflation Steps Don’t Go Far Enough

People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
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Expert: Türkiye Anti-inflation Steps Don’t Go Far Enough

People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters
People shop at a bazaar in Istanbul. Reuters

Although Turkish inflation slowed in September, it is still raging out of control with the government avoiding difficult decisions that could help tackle it, experts told AFP.

Türkiye has experienced spiraling inflation the past two years, peaking at an annual rate of 85.5 percent in October 2022 and 75.45 percent in May.

The government claims it slowed to 49.4 percent in September.

But the figures are disputed by the ENAG group of independent economists who estimate that year-on-year inflation stood at 88.6 percent in September.

Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek has said Ankara was hoping to bring inflation down to 17.6 percent by the end of 2025 and to “single digits” by 2026.

And President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently hailed Türkiye’s success in “starting the process of permanent disinflation.”

“The hard times are behind us,” he said.

But economists interviewed by AFP said the surge in consumer prices in Türkiye had become “chronic” and is being exacerbated by some government policies.

“The current drop is simply due to a base effect. The price rises over the course of a month is still high, at 2.97 percent across Türkiye and 3.9 percent in Istanbul.

“You can’t call this a success story,” said Mehmet Sisman, economics professor at Istanbul’s Marmara University.

Spurning conventional economic practice of raising interest rates to curb inflation, Erdogan has long defended a policy of lowering rates. That has sent the lira sliding, further fueling inflation.

But after his reelection in May 2023, he gave Türkiye’s Central Bank free rein to raise its main interest rate from 8.5 to 50 percent between June 2023 and March 2024.

The central bank’s rate remained unchanged in September for the sixth consecutive month.

“The fight against inflation revolves around the priorities of the financial sector. As a result, it is done indirectly and generates uncertainty,” explained Erinc Yeldan, economics professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul.

But raising interest rates alone is not enough to steady inflation without addressing massive budget deficits, according to Yakup Kucukkale, an economics professor at Karadeniz Technical University.

He pointed to Türkiye’s record budget deficit of 129.6 billion lira (3.45 billion euros).

“Simsek says this is due to expenditure linked to the reconstruction in regions hit by the February 2023 earthquake,” he said of the disaster that killed more than 53,000 people.

“But the real black hole is due to the costly public-private partnership contracts,” he said, referring to infrastructure contracts which critics say are often awarded to firms close to Erdogan’s government.

Such contracts cover construction and management of everything from motorways and bridges to hospitals and airports, and are often accompanied by generous guarantees such as state compensation in the event they are underused.

“We should question these contracts, which are a burden on the budget because this compensation is indexed to the dollar or the euro,” said Kucukkale.

Anti-inflation measures also tend to impact low-income households at a time when the minimum wage hasn’t been raised since January, he said.

“But these people already have little purchasing power. To lower demand, such measures must target higher-income groups, but there is hardly anything affecting them,” he said.