On behalf of His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Geological Survey, Mr. Bandar bin Ibrahim Al-Khuraif, His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Engineer Khalid bin Saleh Al-Mudifar, will launch next Tuesday in Al-Dawadmi Governorate, Riyadh Region, the first project of the General Geological Survey Program initiative being carried out by the Saudi Geological Survey at a cost of one billion riyals.
The CEO of the Geological Survey of Saudi Arabia, Engineer Abdullah bin Muftar Al-Shimrani, explained that the projects under the General Geological Survey Program initiative aim to obtain diverse, high-precision geological data for the Arabian Shield, which covers an area of up to 600,000 km² of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He said: “God willing, this data will contribute to supporting mineral exploration, which will stimulate the economy and diversify the Kingdom’s revenues by attracting investment in the mining sector to achieve the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”
For his part, Dr. Wadi bin Ahmed Qashqari, owner of the General Geological Survey Program initiative, stated that the Authority intends to launch aerial geophysical survey operations, which is one of the projects under the General Geological Survey Program initiative. This initiative includes aerial magnetic and radiometric geophysical surveys of the entire Arabian Shield within the Kingdom.
He explained that through these efforts, the Authority also aims to obtain high-precision geomagnetic and radiation spectrum data, as well as digital maps of geomagnetic and radiation fields, as well as geological interpretations of the magnetic and radiometric maps that reflect the most significant geological structures and rock formations, through which the most important mineralization zones are identified and delineated.
These outputs, interpretations, and technical reports will also be archived and incorporated into the National Geoscience Database (NGD) to provide geoscience data to users in various fields, most notably mining investment and scientific research.