Commodity exporters rarely squeeze most of the value out of the raw materials they produce. Gulf countries are no exception. For the past half-century, the oil-and-gas-rich region has supplied fossil fuels to power global economic activity, but largely failed to industrialize beyond its role as a commodity exporter.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to challenge the status quo and bring a larger chunk of the oil value chain closer to home. The country’s state oil company, Saudi Aramco, joined forces with TotalEnergies in December 2022 to build a new $11 billion petrochemicals complex in Jubail.

The kingdom also wants to dig out some of the $1.3 trillion of untapped mineral deposits that it claims to hold underground, including copper, phosphates, gold, zinc and uranium. In 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources became separate from the Ministry of Energy as Saudi Arabia aims to become an industrial and mining powerhouse.

Timothy Keating, director at the financial advisory firm Tanjun Capital, said the new department is doing “an incredible job” at putting Saudi Arabia on the mining map. “There is a realization that the mining industry can be a huge driver of the economy,” said Keating, who previously led Oman’s sovereign wealth fund’s private equity mining investment business.