Saudi Arabia will build 14,000 km of railway across country, investment minister Khalid Al Falih said on the sideline of an international mining conference held in Riyadh.
"New rail that will criss-cross the kingdom and add to the network we already have," Falih told the key mining forum in Riyadh.
The 2,750 km North-South line runs from Riyadh to the border with Jordan, and has feeder lines to mineral mining operations in the north of the Kingdom.
The Riyadh-Dammam stretches 450 km from the capital to the east coast, and the new 450 km Haramain high-speed line connects the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah via King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Abdullah Economic City to the north.
Al Falih also said his ministry was working on a new investment law that is going to address the needs of both domestic and international investors.
The first-ever Future Minerals Forum is being held at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre in Riyadh featuring over 2,000 decision-makers from more than 100 countries and 150-plus top global investors, as well as some 100 international speakers.
The three-day event, which saw experts highlight an extensive repertoire of subjects, opportunities and challenges confronting the world’s mining industry, concludes today (January 13).
Riyadh's efforts to build an economy that does not largely rely on oil and state subsidies involves a shift towards mining vast untapped reserves of bauxite, the main source of aluminium, as well as phosphate, gold, copper and uranium.
The government estimates the kingdom's unused mineral resources to be valued at 5 trillion riyal ($1.33 trillion).
The kingdom's energy minister told the same conference on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter of crude oil, is planning to use its vast uranium resources to develop a nuclear power.
Saudi Arabia said last year it would give foreign companies until the end of 2023 to set up headquarters in the Kingdom or risk losing out on government contracts. In October it said it had licensed 44 international companies to set up regional headquarters in Riyadh.
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