Saudi Arabia is deploying the financial strength and geological database of its state oil giant behind a new search for copper and rare earths, creating both an opportunity and a competitive threat for mineral-rich African countries.

State oil producer, Saudi Aramco and mining company Maaden signed a shareholders’ agreement on Tuesday to form a joint venture focused on mineral exploration and hard-rock mining across approximately 182,000 square kilometres of the kingdom.

The area is equivalent to nearly 10 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s land mass and almost twice the size of Liberia.

Maaden is expected to own 51 per cent of the venture, with Aramco holding the remaining 49 per cent, subject to regulatory approvals. Copper will be the principal target, alongside zinc, lead and rare-earth elements.

The move expands Saudi Arabia’s critical-minerals strategy beyond its traditional reliance on a national mining company and sovereign wealth fund. It brings Aramco, one of the world’s largest energy companies, directly into the search for minerals needed for electricity networks, electric vehicles, renewable energy and defence equipment.

Aramco has accumulated more than 90 years of geological and subsurface information through oil and gas exploration. Maaden brings expertise in mining and processing gold, phosphate, aluminium and other minerals.

The companies plan to use artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to identify areas more likely to contain copper and other valuable minerals.

“Over 90 years, Aramco has accumulated and analysed the largest amount of geological and geophysical data ever acquired in a single basin for the kingdom,” said Saleh Al Saleh, Aramco’s vice president of transition minerals.

“This partnership intends to leverage this legacy information to find minerals in the JV area,” he added.

Saudi authorities estimate the kingdom possesses approximately $2.5 trillion in undeveloped mineral resources, up from an earlier estimate of $1.3 trillion following new geological surveys and stronger commodity prices.

The figure is a government estimate of potential mineral endowment and should not be interpreted as the value of proven, economically recoverable reserves.

Saudi Arabia has moved aggressively to reduce exploration risk. Official figures show annual mineral-exploration spending increased from approximately $55 million in 2020 to $280.5 million in 2024. The government has established an exploration-support programme worth approximately $182 million, under which qualifying companies can receive cash incentives covering as much as 25 per cent of eligible exploration costs.

For Africa, the significance extends beyond the possibility of another source of Gulf investment. Saudi Arabia is building the financial incentives, geological information, processing facilities and international partnerships needed to compete with African countries for mining companies, engineers and exploration spending.

African countries do not compete with Saudi Arabia over mineral deposits alone. They also compete over where minerals are refined and converted into higher-value products. Maaden has agreed to develop a rare-earth separation and refining venture with US miner MP Materials, designed to process feedstock from Saudi Arabia and other countries.

Saudi Arabia has already looked towards Zambia. In October 2024, Maaden’s then-chief executive told Reuters that Manara Minerals — established by Maaden and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — was in advanced discussions over a minority interest in First Quantum Minerals’ Zambian copper and nickel operations, with a proposed stake valued between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. However, no transaction with First Quantum had been publicly completed at the time of this report.

“Maaden has been advancing one of the world’s largest single jurisdiction exploration programs across the Arabian Shield to help unlock the Kingdom’s mineral potential,” said Darryl Clark, Maaden’s executive vice president for exploration. “This joint venture would take that ambition into a new area,” he added.