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Open Call
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This week, we announced Newlab’s expansion into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Over the next five years, we’ll launch four sector-specific innovation programs in the Kingdom to align cross-sector partners and resources, and catalyze a startup ecosystem. The first is the Mining Innovation Studio, in collaboration with the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP), the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, Ma’aden, ESNAD (f.k.a. Saudi Mining Services Company), and Saudi Geological Survey (SGS).
This program aims to structure collaborations between startups and these partners to accelerate the commercialization of critical technologies that address key opportunities and challenges within the metals and minerals mining sector.
In line with Saudi Arabia's objective to make mining the third pillar of its economy as outlined in Vision 2030, this is an unprecedented opportunity to geographically diversify and scale the global critical minerals ecosystem, advance mining around the world with critical technology, and accelerate the energy transition.
Mining is a cornerstone of the energy transition, as nearly all technologies driving global energy systems rely on critical minerals. However, much of the value chain is currently concentrated in a few markets, posing significant supply chain risks that threaten the global energy transition and national securities due to critical technologies’ reliance on these metals.
Meanwhile, rising demand for critical minerals is outpacing supply, creating a widening gap in the market. Addressing this challenge requires diversifying the locations where these minerals are mined, processed, and refined to ensure a resilient and sustainable supply chain.
Saudi's ambition is to fill this gap, and it is well-positioned to meet growing global critical mineral demand. While the country has substantial identified mineral resources, Saudi has a unique opportunity to establish a competitive advantage in diversifying the midstream portion of the value chain.
Leveraging its low energy costs, high renewable energy generation potential, abundant capital, skilled workforce, and expertise in greenfield infrastructure development, Saudi Arabia aims to build significant critical minerals processing capacity – refining ore concentrates and mineral waste feedstocks from regional and global upstream sources to supply critical inputs for key industries. The country is also making strategic investments in transportation, logistics, and clean power infrastructure to enable efficient, low-carbon mining and industrial processes.
Critical technology founders have an exceptional opportunity to enter this greenfield market and redefine the mining sector from the ground up, spanning mineral exploration, processing, refining, and the production of finished metals-based products. Newlab’s mission is to accelerate technology commercialization and project development through critical technology developed by startups, and ultimately to create a new blueprint for mining metals and minerals that is more efficient, sustainable, and safe.
Through the Mining Innovation Studio, we will collaborate with startups developing technology across key segments of the mining value chain. The opportunity areas outlined below showcase mining challenges that the Kingdom is uniquely positioned to support to advance its own sector development, as well as to futureproof the industry across other global mining markets.
By systematically integrating emerging technologies across the mining value chain, we aim to develop a new playbook that de-risks mine development from resource to reserve, ensuring that we can sustainably meet the growing global demand for metals and minerals.
We are collaborating with the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and our other partners to create policy incentives, regulatory sandboxes, capital tools, and shared infrastructure to bring startups innovating across these focus areas to the Kingdom and empower them to build and scale disruptive technologies.
Mineral resource discovery and ore characterization are critical aspects of mine development, as they provide the foundational data needed to assess deposit viability, optimize extraction methods, and minimize operational and environmental risks. Globally, mineral discovery faces challenges such as diminishing surface deposits, incomplete geological data, and high exploration costs.
In Saudi Arabia, where the estimated $2.5 trillion USD of mineral resources remain largely underexplored, leveraging innovative technologies like AI-driven prospectivity mapping and advanced geochemical sensors can unlock untapped reserves and position the Kingdom as a global mining hub.
Globally, the mining sector is under pressure to increase output while adhering to stricter environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. Yet, developing and commissioning a new mine can take more than a decade. Improving efficiency, productivity, and traceability in mineral recovery is essential to address rising operational costs and supply chain complexities.
For Saudi, optimizing mining operations through automation, real-time monitoring, and digital tools can help achieve its Vision 2030 goals of modernizing the sector and improving resource management, especially as the sector is still in earlier phases of development.
Efficiently processing minerals from both primary and secondary sources is vital to building resilient supply chains and addressing environmental concerns like waste management. Incumbent mineral processing technologies are energy intensive and can suffer from low recovery rates due to diminished ore grades.
There is an emerging generation of processing technologies focused on recovering metals from diversified feedstocks, including imported ore concentrates and mineral waste streams, to meet global demand. Saudi Arabia aims to leverage its geographic strengths and legacy capabilities from the oil and gas sector to commercialize advanced processing technologies that could diversify the region’s industrial base.
Reducing emissions and enhancing water management are global imperatives for mining companies striving to meet decarbonization targets and regulatory requirements. Current sustainability challenges include high energy consumption, water scarcity, and community resistance due to environmental impacts.
Adopting renewable energy, improving water utilization with zero liquid discharge (ZLD) systems, and implementing biodiversity-focused reclamation can enhance the sustainability of the growing mining industry in Saudi Arabia and align with the national environmental and economic transformation agenda.
Saudi Arabia has a unique greenfield opportunity to build a thriving, innovation-friendly mining sector. Our Mining Innovation Studio’s objective is to synthesize what we learn from commercializing critical technologies in Saudi and apply it to other global mining markets so startups can scale globally.
If we succeed, the global mining landscape will look very different in a decade: geographically diverse, more sustainable, and more economical – fueled by critical technologies developed by startups.
If you are a startup or industry leader interested in our Mining Innovation Studio, please contact us.
