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Australian mining executives have started coming to the Saudis’ annual Future Minerals Forum. The 2024 instalment took place a few weeks ago, and Worley was a platinum sponsor.“These companies are in discussion with us to see where they can play, where can we get them interested, which part of the value chain, which kind of minerals, some have different strategies than others,” Mr Alkhorayef said.A couple of Australian companies, EV Metals and European Lithium, have already announced plans to set up processing facilities in the country, taking advantage of cheap energy costs.“We will attract a lot of international players. It’s an area where we don’t have much expertise or local companies. The whole sector needs to develop to ensure that investors have a competitive ecosystem,” Mr Alkhorayef said.Davos | Saudi Arabia is actively courting Australian miners and mining service companies as it tries to kickstart a $100 billion-a-year industry almost from scratch.The government has just this month doubled its estimate of the country’s mineral wealth to $US2.5 trillion ($3.8 billion), and wants to attract $US200 billion of investment by the end of the decade.Khnaiguiyah, one of the Saudi regions identified as prospective for mining. Bloomberg“Mining was actually a sector where we decided a long time ago to keep it for later. And now, apparently, later has come,” Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar bin Ibrahim Alkhorayef told The Australian Financial Review on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.“We are looking at Australia’s great experience in this area. It’s one of the models that has been able to actually create a mining sector that is both impactful on the economy and on society, yet also quite responsible.”Cheap energy costs