LONDON — Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry Bandar Alkhorayef announced Tuesday that the kingdom has reached an agreement with the London Metal Exchange (LME) to establish warehouses and delivery centers for its metals in the Gulf country.
Investors and mining companies are bracing for a wave of exploration licenses awarded in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom nearly doubled its untapped mineral estimate to $2.5 trillion and announced new incentives for miners in January.
The LME is the main global center for trading industrial metals, and last year some 134.2 million lots were traded on the exchange.
An LME spokesperson told Al-Monitor: "Saudi Arabia represents an important and rapidly-growing global metals hub. New LME delivery points are formally communicated to the market once all relevant steps have been completed."
Alkhorayef announced the LME agreement at the PIF Private Sector Forum in Riyadh.
