Dr. Farouk El-Baz, Director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University, USA, said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the most prominent Arab countries that has great opportunities for discovering minerals.
The fact is that the west of the Kingdom is bordered by the Hijaz Mountains, full of minerals and these heights are mostly igneous rocks and some are volcanic.
Rocks in the Kingdom
Al-Baz explained in his interview with (Al-Youm) Newspaper that the rocks, some of which are also found in the eastern desert in Egypt, were discovered by the ancient Egyptians in many pure minerals, and therefore there must be similar ones in these same rocks in the Kingdom.
The space scientist and geologist at NASA confirmed that the strategies that the Kingdom can rely on to explore more of its mineral resources are represented in working to increase university specialists in geosciences, especially mineralogy, and its equivalent prospects for mining work and the search for mineral resources.
He added that this important branch of geosciences is promoted by prestigious universities in the US and Germany, in addition to some eastern countries such as China.
International Mining Conference
Al-Baz revealed in his interview that there are indeed undiscovered mineral resources in the Kingdom, and by looking at the Hijaz Mountains rich in igneous and volcanic rocks, this can be confirmed.
He continued: “Thousands of years ago and until the current period, Egypt extracted a lot of minerals from the eastern desert, and this is the same in the Kingdom whose mountains consist of the same mountains as Egypt and Sudan.
There must be similar amounts of mineral wealth in those rocks, and this will of course be reflected in an increase in the resources of the Kingdom in the future.
Al-Baz praised the Kingdom’s organization of the International Mining Conference, stressing its importance in exchanging experiences and benefiting developed countries in mining matters, and holding such conferences helps in the development of this field and achieves the greatest benefit from it for the Kingdom and other participating countries.
