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When

December 2021

Interested in more information?

Stephan Gruijters,

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stephan.gruijters@tno.nl

GDN advises geological survey of Saudi Arabia

As the second largest oil-producing country in the world, Saudi Arabia wants to anticipate the global transition to sustainable energy sources. The country has embarked on a diversification strategy with the mining sector as its economy’s new big driver. An important step in this is the creation of a geological database. The Geological Survey of the Netherlands (GDN) is part of a consortium supporting this ambition.

Information system needed for mineral extraction

At present, the Saudi mining activities are mainly focused on meeting regional demands for surface minerals. However, an important part of Saudi Arabia’s vision for 2030 is to attract international companies that want to invest in mineral exploration and exploitation. The country has large quantities of minerals, but is only extracting a limited part of them. A good information system with subsurface data will be needed to identify and develop potential exploitation options.

National Geological Database

Saudi Arabia wants to set up a National Geological Database (NGD) to be managed by its own geological survey. The database must consolidate and standardise existing information, thus enabling potential investors to make use of reliable, complete, and relevant subsurface data. This database will be an important  enabler  for expanding the mining sector. An NGD can, at the same time, make an important contribution to geological and archaeological scientific research.

Consortium of geological surveys

GDN was part of an international consortium with partners in Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. This consortium is supporting Saudi Arabia’s geological survey in its grand ambition by preparing a set of five Request for Proposal (RfP) documents for parties worldwide to tender. GDN was selected as a preferred partner in this consortium because of its many years of experience setting up and managing an advanced subsurface information system with reliable data. In this role, we applied our thorough knowledge of data management, standardisation, workflow management, and software development.

Towards a transition of the mining sector

Aided by the consortium, the first steps to transition Saudi Arabia’s mining sector have now been taken. All RfP documents have been delivered, including a detailed roadmap with the steps that need to be taken to set up the NGD.

Interested in more information? Contact Stephan Gruijters via the blue ‘mail directly’ button below.

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