MUSCAT: Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals has unveiled its 3rd Mining Bid Round of 2024, offering a total of six blocks aggregating a combined acreage of over 6,300 sq kilometres for investment under its ‘Exploration to Mining’ concession format.
Distributed across a number of governorates, the concessions are thought to hold commercial quantities of, among other minerals, nickel and copper – both strategically valuable commodities that are vital to the success of the global energy transition and circular economy industries.
Also identified for exploration and development are laterite, feldspar, chromite, basalt, gabbro, chromite, manganese, basalt, silica, kaolin, and clays. Mining companies – local and international – have until March 30, 2025 to submit their offers.
The biggest of the six concessions is Block 72 in Dhofar Governorate. Covering an area of 1,714 km2, it is thought to be rich in feldspar – a group of alumino-silicate minerals containing potassium, sodium and calcium. They play an important role as fluxing agents in ceramics and glass production, and are valuable functional fillers in the paint and adhesive industries.
Other concessions up for bidding are: Block 25E, a 638 km2 concession in South Al Sharqiyah, with promising nickel and laterite potential; Block 11C, a 1,089 km2 concession in Al Buraimi Governorate, with deposits of copper ore, chromite ore, basalt and gabbro; Block 51A, a 1,075 km2 concession straddling the governorates of Al Dakhiliyah and Al Wusta, and believed to be rich in silica and clays; Block 51B, a 1,050 km2 concession in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate, with prospective resources of barite, silica and kaolin; and finally Block 25B, a 747 km2 concession in North Al Sharqiyah Governorate, with resources of manganese nickel and laterite.
Significantly, the latest bid round is the biggest of the three rounds rolled out by the Ministry so far this year. A previous round offered up four sites for gypsum mining in the Thamrait area of Dhofar Governorate. Earmarked primarily for Omani mining firms, submissions closed on October 10, 2024.
The first round, launched in May but since modified, offered three blocks in the Wilayat of Ibra for the development of gabbro – a key source of aggregates and other material for the building industry.
Underscoring the Ministry’s commitment to facilitating investment inflows into the minerals sector, Eng Mohsin al Hadhrami, Under-Secretary, recently led a high-level team of officials on a tour of key mining sites in North and South Al Sharqiyah governorates.
On the itinerary was a visit to the processing facilities of Al Hadeetha Resources, which is mining copper and gold deposits at Al Wash-hi Majaza in Al Mudhaibi Wilayat. The delegation also met with executives of Knights Bay Mining and Trading LLC (KBM), which is developing a nickel laterite project within Mineral Block 21 in the Wilayat of Ibra.
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