Saudi Arabia Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources Mining Development Deputy Minister Abdulrahman Al-Belushi has hailed the diversity, reach and impact of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF), with key initiatives announced at this year’s iteration.

Held yearly in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the FMF is a global platform for shaping the future of critical and strategic minerals, hosted by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources.

Now in its fifth year, and the largest to date, the 2026 FMF was convened under the theme 'Dawn of a Global Cause'.

A major announcement at this year’s FMF was the launch of the Mining Infrastructure Enablement Initiative in partnership with the Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones.  

Speaking to Mining Weekly in an exclusive interview at the forum, Al-Belushi explained that this initiative would support developing mines, or defined deposits aiming to go into development, with connections to power plants, water treatment facilities and water pipelines.

This was aligned with the Ministry’s strategy of fuelling Saudi Arabia’s national industrial strategy, by enabling the country to become a processing hub for minerals that support this, he pointed out.

This initiative is part of the work to expedite mine development and bolster its competitiveness, with many speakers expressing discontent with the industry’s current average of about 18 years for mine development.

Al-Belushi outlined that the initiative would be focused on supplying grey water for use in mining operations.

The initiative’s first project was also announced, that of a 75-km-long treated water pipeline that will support development in the Jabal Sayed area and accelerate the implementation of mining projects.

Al-Belushi termed this area as one of the country’s most prospective builds, that also had “excellent” shared capacity for future mines that would come within the region.

He highlighted that this would engender extra capacity for the local communities and for farming; while also reducing the costs for mine developers by about 60%, and reducing diesel use by 11-million barrels over the lifetime of the project.

Other initiatives launched at FMF included the Mineral Investment Journey, the Gateway to Finance in partnership with Bank of Montreal, MinGen workshops for youth and women, and the MinValley Tech and Innovation platform.

The National Industrial Development and Logistics Programme also introduced the “Start-Up Derby” at the Minerals Café, providing an open platform to showcase emerging technologies and connect innovators directly with investors.

FMF 2026 saw a record attendance of 21 500 global participants, including investment leaders, heads of major mining companies, experts and technical specialists.

There were 132 agreements and memoranda of understanding signed at the event, to the tune of SAR100-billion.

These included in the areas of exploration and mining, financing, research and development, innovation, sustainability, value-added supply chains and mining industries.

Al-Belushi lauded the Forum’s commitment to diversity and promoting supplier voices, with its focus on the “Super-Region”. The FMF classifies the “Super Region” as Africa, West Asia and central Asia.

“It’s all about the Super-Region that is underexplored given the size of its natural endowment,” he pointed out.

Al-Belushi added that the Ministerial Roundtable boasted a multitude of African mining leaders that had been actively advocating for their resources to be used sustainably and to maximise the value from within these nations.

The roundtable is a government-led meeting that precedes the FMF, with this year’s edition welcoming Ministers' senior representatives from over 100 countries and 59 organisations. 

Al-Belushi also mentioned that there were “great South African” partners present in Saudi Arabia, providing operational support for the country’s mining industry.

He also informed that the market was open for more service providers, with scope for junior players from South Africa.