Saudi Arabia is running one of the most active exploration drives anywhere: detailed mapping of the Arabian Shield, bid rounds for gold belts, and a fourfold rise in exploration licensing. This guide explains what data the Saudi Geological Survey publishes, how gold deposits in Saudi Arabia are distributed through the Shield’s Neoproterozoic belts, what Ma’aden has disclosed at Mansourah Massarah and the Central Arabian Gold Region, how the licence system works, and where satellite screening fits before fieldwork.
Geology Arabian Shield
Data SGS National Geological Database
Regulator MIM · Ta’deen
Anyone researching gold deposits in Saudi Arabia ends up at the same place: the Saudi Geological Survey and the geological maps, mineral occurrence records and survey data it holds for the Arabian Shield. Those datasets are the starting point for licence applications, bid-round evaluations and investment screening. They are also shared by every competitor, which is why the real advantage comes from what you do with them before you commit money to a licence.
Try it: Gold resource headline checker (tonnes, grade, ounces, royalty) →
This guide is written for licence holders, exploration companies and investors. It relies on the Saudi Geological Survey’s National Geological Database, the Mining Investment Law published on the Ta’deen platform, its Implementing Regulations, Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources (MIM) statements, Ma’aden’s disclosures and peer-reviewed geology. Where a figure can change, we give its date and the place to check for a newer one. For gold deposit types and prospecting methods in general, see our guide to mining prospecting for gold.
“By 1999, Saudi databases held more than 5,000 mineral sites, 1,273 of them for precious metals.”
Every bidder in a Ta’deen round can read the same Saudi Geological Survey maps and occurrence records. Two companies with identical data can still pick very different ground. The difference is how carefully each one reads structure, alteration and past work inside the specific block before applying.
What the Saudi Geological Survey does and what data it publishes
The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) was established in 1999 by Council of Ministers Resolution No. 115, according to Saudipedia’s overview of Saudi mineral resources. The same source divides the Kingdom’s exploration history into three phases: 1934 to 1963, when early work under King Abdulaziz identified old workings and remnants; 1963 to 1998, when aerial and magnetic surveys were completed and geological maps compiled for the Arabian Shield; and 1999 onwards, the SGS era, in which the geological mapping infrastructure was completed across the Shield.
The National Geological Database
For explorers the most useful SGS product is the National Geological Database. Its landing page lists geological maps at 1:1,000,000, 1:500,000 and 1:250,000, the Mineral Occurrences Database (MODS) covering metallic and industrial mineral deposits with their exploration status, geochemical and geophysical survey data, well data including drill core and surface samples, topographic maps, remote-sensing products, and a technical reports database of Saudi Geological Survey publications. Access runs through a separate portal with its own user guide; check registration terms there before planning a data purchase or download.
- Regional geology maps at three scales for choosing belts and blocks.
- MODS occurrence records for known gold showings, old workings and their exploration status.
- Geochemistry and geophysics for anomaly trends before you design your own surveys.
- Drill core and sample records that can save a program from repeating old holes.
- ⚠ Scale limits: 1:250,000 is a regional map. One millimetre on it is 250 metres on the ground, so it cannot place a drill hole.
The Shield mapping program and data volumes
The mapping effort is being extended. The Saudi Press Agency reported that the Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources launched a geological mapping project for the Arabian Shield worth up to SAR 777 million. In August 2025 the Ministry said that 30% of the geological survey work on the 700,000 km² Arabian Shield was complete and that more than 10 terabytes of data would be made available through the National Geological Database. Progress figures move quickly, so check MIM and SGS announcements for the current share.
The Implementing Regulations formalise the link between the Ministry and the survey. Article 6 says the Ministry coordinates with the Saudi Geological Survey on tasks such as identifying mining reserve areas, developing and updating the National Geological Database, making non-confidential maps and data available to the public, and keeping drill samples in the national drill core library. In practice that means the database is meant to grow as licensees report their work.
Before you draft a licence polygon, list every Saudi Geological Survey occurrence record, old working and prior drill hole inside and around it. A boundary drawn around one famous showing often misses the structural corridor that controls it.
The Arabian Shield: why gold deposits in Saudi Arabia cluster where they do
Almost all gold deposits in Saudi Arabia sit on the Arabian Shield, the Precambrian basement exposed across the west of the Kingdom. Saudipedia describes the 700,000 km² Shield as the main region for precious metals, base metals and industrial minerals, where most of the Kingdom’s discovered mineral ores are concentrated. Reporting by The National in August 2026 describes its rocks as mainly igneous and metamorphic, formed between roughly 880 and 550 million years ago, with more than 5,300 catalogued mineral occurrences.
Arcs, terranes and the faults between them
The Shield was assembled from volcanic arcs and microcontinents that collided during the Neoproterozoic. The sutures and major faults between those pieces matter for gold, because they are where fluids moved. A US Geological Survey study published in Precambrian Research on the Ar Rayn terrane in the eastern Shield describes a continental-margin arc with volcanic and plutonic rocks from about 689 to 583 million years old. It records epithermal precious-metal, stratiform zinc-copper and iron-oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits, and notes that epithermal, porphyry copper and IOCG systems are concentrated along the Al Amar fault, which the authors interpret as a major intra-arc fault rather than an ophiolitic suture.
Orogenic gold in shear zones
Much of the Shield’s gold is orogenic: quartz-carbonate veins in shear zones formed late in the orogeny. The Ta’deen description of the Nabitah/Ad Duwayhi (Dahlat Shabab) gold belt offered in bid round 9 is a good summary of the setting. The 2,477 km² belt in the Makkah and Riyadh regions contains the Ad Duwayhi gold mine, with orogenic gold deposits in fault-controlled shear zones hosted by volcanic, sedimentary and intrusive rocks around the Haml batholith. On the Nubian side of the same shield, a 2026 study in Scientific Reports dates orogenic gold in Egypt’s Eastern Desert to about 600 million years ago.
Ancient workings as a guide, not a verdict
Gold has been mined on the Shield for a very long time, and old workings are one of the most useful clues in the MODS records. The best known is Mahd adh Dhahab. According to Saudipedia, the Saudi Arabian Mining Syndicate obtained a licence to exploit it and began mining in 1939, and about 900,000 tonnes of ore were extracted by 1954. Old workings show that gold reached surface. They do not show whether the vein continues at depth, how wide it is, or whether the best part has already gone.
Saudi gold deposits: the mines and discoveries on record
Saudipedia names five principal gold mines: Mahd adh-Dhahab, Al-Sukhaybarat, Bulghah, Al-Amar and Al-Hajar. The largest recent growth has come from Ma’aden’s Mansourah Massarah operation and the ground around it. We list these as geological examples with their published sources; we have no involvement with them and make no claim about their economics beyond what the companies disclosed.
Mansourah Massarah and Uruq South
In December 2023, The National reported that Ma’aden had identified gold potential along a strike of up to 125 km from Mansourah Massarah. Drilling at Uruq South, a stretch about 100 km south of the mine, returned intercepts including 61 m at 10.4 g/t and 20 m at 20.6 g/t gold. At that point Mansourah Massarah carried stated resources of almost seven million ounces and a nameplate capacity of 250,000 ounces a year.
On 12 January 2026, Ma’aden announced 7.8 million ounces of new gold resources across four sites: a net increase of 3.0 million ounces at Mansourah Massarah, 1.67 million ounces combined at Uruq 20/21 and Umm As Salam, and a maiden resource of 3.08 million ounces at Wadi Al Jaww. The company put Mansourah Massarah’s resource at 116 million tonnes grading 2.8 g/t, or 10.4 million ounces, reported that mineralisation remains open at depth, and said advanced drilling in the Central Arabian Gold Region had found new mineralised zones, with near-mine drilling at Mahd extending the potential resource envelope.
| Site | What was disclosed | Date | Source | What it tells an explorer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mansourah Massarah | 116 Mt at 2.8 g/t, about 10.4 Moz; open at depth | Jan 2026 | Ma’aden | Large bulk-tonnage systems exist in the Central Arabian Gold Region |
| Uruq South | Intercepts incl. 61 m at 10.4 g/t, 20 m at 20.6 g/t | Dec 2023 | Ma’aden via The National | The same system continues along strike, up to 125 km |
| Uruq 20/21 and Umm As Salam | +1.67 Moz combined | Jan 2026 | Ma’aden | Step-out targets convert to resources with drilling |
| Wadi Al Jaww | Maiden resource 3.08 Moz | Jan 2026 | Ma’aden | New discoveries are still being made |
| Nabitah/Ad Duwayhi belt | 2,477 km² belt offered for exploration | Round 9 (2025) | Ta’deen | Orogenic shear-zone belts are being opened to bidders |
A licence next to a large resource is only more prospective if it shares the structure, the host rocks and the alteration. Ask for the licence’s own data. Proximity to famous Saudi gold deposits is a hypothesis to test, not a value to pay for. This guide is general information, not investment advice.
Reading a resource headline
Resource numbers combine three things: tonnes, grade and the troy-ounce conversion (31.1035 grams per ounce). Checking that they reconcile is a quick first test of any announcement or vendor claim. The calculator below does the arithmetic and adds recovery and an indicative royalty so you can see how far a headline sits from money in the bank.
Gold resource headline checker (tonnes, grade, ounces, royalty)
Assumptions: defaults are Ma’aden’s January 2026 Mansourah Massarah figures (116 Mt at 2.8 g/t, 10.4 Moz). One troy ounce is 31.1035 g. Recovery and price are your own inputs, not sourced forecasts. The 1.5% rate is the gold royalty listed in the Implementing Regulations of the Mining Investment Law, which applies it to net value as the Regulations define it; this tool applies it to gross recovered value only as an indicator. Mining losses, dilution, costs, taxes and the difference between resources and reserves are excluded. Checked September 2026.
With the defaults, 116 Mt at 2.8 g/t gives about 10.44 Moz, within half a percent of the stated 10.4 Moz. That is what a clean headline looks like. Try it on a vendor’s numbers: if the ounces cannot be reproduced from the stated tonnes and grade, ask why before anything else.
Licences, bid rounds and where the Saudi Geological Survey fits
The Saudi Geological Survey produces the data, but licences come from the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources through the Ta’deen platform. The Mining Investment Law sets out three licence families: reconnaissance, exploration and exploitation, with exploitation covering mining, small mine, building materials quarry and general purpose licences. Article 13 also allows the SGS to carry out the tasks in its statute without a licence, after notifying the Ministry.
Terms and areas under the Mining Investment Law
- Reconnaissance licence (Article 38): up to two years, renewable once for up to two more. Non-exclusive; it allows sampling and geophysical and geochemical methods but no digging (Article 39).
- Exploration licence, Class A and B minerals (Article 40): up to 100 km², terms of up to five years, renewable, with total terms not exceeding 15 years. Class C: up to 5 km², one year, not renewable.
- Mining licence (Article 42): up to 30 years, renewable to a total of 60 years, on a site of no more than 50 km².
- Small mine licence (Article 43): up to 20 years, with renewals to a total of 40 years.
- Transfers (Article 20): an exploration licence cannot be transferred, directly or indirectly, within the first year of its term.
Fees, eligibility and royalty
Ta’deen’s exploration licence page lists a five-year term with application, issuance and renewal fees of SAR 5,000 each, a minimum company capital of SAR 100,000, mining activity on the commercial registration, technical capability, no licence terminated in the previous three years and no outstanding dues to the Ministry. Renewal applies to Class A and B minerals and must be filed at least 30 days before expiry, with updated environmental and social impact management plans. The Implementing Regulations published in Umm Al-Qura list gold, like silver, at a 1.5% royalty. Fees and rates can be amended, so confirm them on Ta’deen before paying. For the surface rent and minimum spend schedule, see our Arabic guide to exploration companies and the Saudi exploration licence, which includes a licence cost calculator.
Those figures come from the Ministry’s monthly licensing release for April 2026, reported by Ajel and headlined by the Saudi Press Agency: 128 new licences, including 104 exploration licences, and 3,248 valid licences at month end. The Ministry’s August 2025 statement adds that exploration licensing increased fourfold over the previous three years compared with the six years before the new mining investment system. Check the latest monthly release for current counts.
Bid rounds for gold belts
Article 19 of the law lets the Ministry designate areas that can only be licensed through bidding. The Nabitah/Ad Duwayhi round shows how that works: a single site covering 2,477 km², pre-qualification opening in January 2025, a PQQ deadline in June 2025, online bidding in July and August and a multi-round auction in September 2025. For a bidder, the Saudi Geological Survey data package is the common baseline. Anything you can add to it inside the block before the bid closes is your edge.
Article 29 of the Mining Investment Law requires the Ministry’s written approval before a licensee conducts an aerial survey. Build that approval into the schedule if your program includes airborne magnetics or drones. Analysis of existing satellite imagery involves no flying on your part, but confirm any survey plan with the Ministry.
Licensing in other countries follows different rules. Our guide to prospecting and exploration licences compares the main structures if you are weighing Saudi ground against other jurisdictions.
Lithium in Saudi Arabia: brines rather than pegmatites so far
Searches for lithium in Saudi Arabia usually lead to oilfield brines, not hard-rock deposits. In December 2024, Arab News reported the Vice Minister of Mining Affairs saying lithium had been successfully extracted from brine samples from Aramco’s oilfields. The work involved Lihytech, a start-up from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, with Ma’aden cooperating and Aramco supplying brine, and a commercial pilot fed continuously by field brines was being built. He also said extraction from oilfield brine costs more than salt-flat production and would need higher lithium prices to be commercial.
The National’s August 2026 explainer adds that lithium concentrations have been confirmed by Aramco and that Aramco and Ma’aden signed a joint venture in August 2026 to explore the 182,000 km² Transition Zone. For Shield explorers, lithium is mostly a watch item for now. Gold, copper and the other metals on the Shield remain the main targets for satellite and ground work.
Satellite screening on the Arabian Shield
The Shield is close to ideal ground for spectral remote sensing: large areas of exposed rock, thin soil and little vegetation. Hydrothermal alteration minerals (clays, micas, carbonates and iron oxides) each have distinct absorption features in the infrared. Multispectral and hyperspectral imagery can map those minerals across a whole licence, and combining them with fault and lineament mapping picks out the shear zones and intersections that host orogenic gold. Our explainer on hyperspectral and ASTER mineral mapping goes into the bands and methods.
How we fit into a Saudi program
Our satellite-based mineral detection takes the Saudi Geological Survey regional picture down to the scale of your block. You send the licence or bid-block boundary; we choose the data source (multispectral or hyperspectral), analyse the reflected spectrum and flag likely mineralised target zones, alteration halos, faults and fractures, and deposit-associated patterns, with no ground disturbance.
- What you send: coordinates, KML/KMZ or a polygon, plus country and target mineral.
- Turnaround: 5–20 business days depending on area size and mineral complexity.
- 📊 Premium report: high-potential zones, prospectivity heatmaps, estimated location and depth ranges, indicative quantity, geological interpretation (faults, alteration, host rock) and seasonal anomaly validation, as PDF plus georeferenced GIS files.
- 📊 Premium+ report: adds TargetMax™ Drilling Intelligence with drilling-angle recommendations and interactive 3D subsurface models of vein structures and mineral distribution.
- 📊 Economics: early exploration timelines cut from months to days, and early-exploration cost lowered by up to 80–85%.
- ⚠ What it is not: a resource estimate, a licence, or a substitute for SGS data and fieldwork. Targets are exploration targets to be confirmed by sampling and drilling.
We have scanned 100,000+ hectares for 20+ mineral types across 25+ countries. See a sample of satellite-driven 3D mineral prospectivity mapping, draw your block on mining.farmonaut.com: Map Your Mining Site, or ask for pricing through our mining query form. For a visual walk-through of what a finished gold map looks like, see our piece on satellite gold exploration mapping.
Rank your Shield block before the bid closes
Send us the boundary. We return ranked gold target zones, alteration and structural interpretation, and GIS files you can lay over Saudi Geological Survey maps to plan mapping, sampling and drilling.
Exploration applicants must submit environmental and social impact management plans (Article 35). Screening from orbit before fieldwork cuts the number of access tracks, trenches and pads needed in fragile desert wadis, which makes those plans easier to meet and keeps disturbance proportional to evidence.
An exploration sequence for Saudi gold deposits
The order below moves from cheap, wide coverage to expensive, narrow work. Each step shrinks the ground for the next and fits inside the licence terms above.
- Desk study: Saudi Geological Survey maps, MODS records, geochemistry, geophysics and prior reports for the block and its surroundings.
- Satellite screening: alteration and structural mapping over the whole licence to rank zones.
- Field mapping and rock-chip sampling: on the top-ranked zones, recording vein orientation and alteration type.
- Geochemistry: wadi sediment and soil grids to trace anomalies under cover.
- Ground geophysics: magnetics for structure, induced polarisation for disseminated sulphides, chosen to suit the deposit model.
- Drilling: designed across structure, with core in the first holes to measure orientation.
- Reporting: licence reports feed the national database; Article 23 keeps geological reports confidential on request, with disclosure possible five years after receipt for valid licences.
Questions to ask before buying into a Saudi gold licence
- Licence: which type and class, when does the current term end, and has the first-year transfer restriction passed?
- Data: which SGS records and prior work cover the block, and what has the licensee added?
- Geology: which deposit model applies (orogenic, epithermal, intrusion-related), and who decided?
- Numbers: do stated ounces reconcile with tonnes and grade? Are intercepts reported as true widths?
- ⚠ Red flags: guaranteed ounces, resource claims without a qualified report, or “long-range locator” maps.
“Ma’aden put Mansourah Massarah at 116 million tonnes grading 2.8 g/t, about 10.4 million ounces, in January 2026.”
Farmonaut is not a licensing agent, broker or investment adviser, and we do not sell licences or projects. Applications go to the Ministry through Ta’deen. What we supply is an independent satellite read of the ground you are considering, so your geologists can spend field days where the evidence points.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Saudi Geological Survey?
The Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) is the Kingdom’s geoscience agency, established in 1999 by Council of Ministers Resolution No. 115. It produces geological maps, maintains the National Geological Database and mineral occurrence records, and coordinates with the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources on tasks such as identifying mining reserve areas and keeping the national drill core library.
What data does the Saudi Geological Survey make available?
The National Geological Database lists geological maps at 1:1,000,000, 1:500,000 and 1:250,000, the Mineral Occurrences Database (MODS), geochemical and geophysical survey data, well and drill-core records, topographic maps, remote-sensing products and technical reports. Access is through the database portal; check its current registration and terms.
Where are the main gold deposits in Saudi Arabia?
On the Arabian Shield in the west of the Kingdom. Saudipedia names Mahd adh-Dhahab, Al-Sukhaybarat, Bulghah, Al-Amar and Al-Hajar as the principal gold mines, and Ma’aden reports large resources at Mansourah Massarah in the Central Arabian Gold Region, with further resources at Uruq 20/21, Umm As Salam and Wadi Al Jaww.
How big can a Saudi exploration licence be, and for how long?
Under Article 40 of the Mining Investment Law, a licence for Class A and B minerals covers up to 100 km² for terms of up to five years, renewable to a total of 15 years. Class C licences cover up to 5 km² for one year and cannot be renewed. Ta’deen lists SAR 5,000 each for application, issuance and renewal; confirm current fees before applying.
Is there lithium in Saudi Arabia?
The Ministry reported successful extraction of lithium from Aramco oilfield brine samples in December 2024, with a commercial pilot planned, and Aramco has confirmed lithium concentrations. The Vice Minister noted that brine extraction currently costs more than salt-flat production. Hard-rock lithium on the Shield has not been the focus of those announcements.
Can satellites find gold on the Arabian Shield?
Satellites do not see gold itself. They map the alteration minerals, iron oxides and faults that accompany gold systems, and the Shield’s exposed, arid terrain suits that analysis well. The output is a ranked map of exploration targets that geologists then test with sampling and drilling.
Does Farmonaut work with the Saudi Geological Survey or Ma’aden?
No. We have no partnership with the SGS, Ma’aden or the Ministry, and the deposits in this guide are cited only as geological examples from public sources. We analyse satellite data for the licence or block you specify and deliver exploration targets and GIS files.
Reviewed September 2026 against the Mining Investment Law (English text on Ta’deen), its Implementing Regulations in Umm Al-Qura, Ta’deen’s exploration licence and round 9 Nabitah/Ad Duwayhi pages, the SGS National Geological Database, Saudipedia’s mineral resources overview, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources’ August 2025 statement, the Saudi Press Agency and Ajel reports of April 2026 licensing data, Ma’aden’s January 2026 resource release, The National’s December 2023 and August 2026 reports, the USGS Ar Rayn terrane study in Precambrian Research, and Arab News’ December 2024 lithium report.
Resource, licensing and production figures are quoted with their dates from the cited sources and may change. Deposits and mines named here are geological examples only; Farmonaut did not discover any of them and has no relationship with their owners. Satellite targets are exploration targets, not mineral resources, and must be confirmed by sampling and drilling. This is general information, not legal or investment advice; confirm current rules with the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources before applying.
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