Saudi Arabia Announces Uranium Discovery and Nuclear Energy Expansion

Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced that Saudi Arabia has discovered an estimated 110 million tonnes of ore containing uranium and rare earth minerals at the Jabal Sayid project in the Madinah region. Speaking at the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, the minister detailed a strategy to integrate nuclear energy into the national energy mix through the National Atomic Energy Project.

The program involves multiple tracks for uranium recovery, including mining at Jabal Sayid and extracting uranium from phosphoric acid in phosphate fertilizer operations. To build this value chain, the Kingdom has partnered with France's Orano and U.S.-based MP Materials. The U.S. Department of Defense has agreed to finance 49 percent of a new processing plant developed by MP Materials and the Saudi state miner Ma'aden.

While Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman defended the ambition to develop a full nuclear fuel cycle, including enrichment, he emphasized that the program would remain transparent and subject to international oversight, contrasting it with the secrecy of Iran's nuclear activities. However, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright clarified that the United States has no plans to assist Saudi Arabia with enrichment, stating the July 2026 civil nuclear cooperation agreement focuses on building a commercial nuclear power industry and mining infrastructure.

Additional international cooperation includes over $1.4 billion in commercial agreements with Canada focused on critical minerals. Despite the scale of the Jabal Sayid find, the specific uranium grade remains undisclosed, leaving the commercial viability of the recovery uncertain.