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Ammon News - The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has restored the momentum to the mineral resources sector by signing several memoranda of understanding (MoU) to kick off an exploration drive by focusing on manufacturing industries, due to their added value to the national economy, expansion of job opportunities and improvement of the local communities' living standards.

In a statement to "Petra," on Sunday, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Kharabsheh said the ministry would soon sign two MoUs to explore copper and gold within the framework of its interest in giving the mineral sector its right and making it a priority, in implementation of the Royal directives in this regard.

This projected effort, he said, would increase the mineral sector's contribution to the GDP, create job opportunities and raise the level of direly needed income in the target regions.

In this regard, Kharabsheh said the ministry is currently focusing efforts on manufacturing industries for the mining sector to best exploit its potentials, expand job opportunities and improve the local communities' living standards, adding such projects would serve their surrounding areas.

To this end, the ministry launched, he noted, a platform to facilitate the investors' procedures in the mineral sector.

The platform came within the second batch of government accelerators and the ministry's belief in the importance of increasing investment in the mineral field and improving the services level online, he pointed out.

The platform, he said, aims to network the concerned authorities to reduce time and burden needed to complete the investors' transactions.

In addition, he noted these e-platforms are the beginning to launching and improving comprehensive services in various sectors to stimulate mineral investments by aligning with the investors' requirements and needs and attracting more investment opportunities in this important sector, according to the minister.

In December 2021, Kharabsheh launched a project to explore phosphate ore in Al-Ruwaished area.

In January 2022, the ministry signed a MoU to explore "rare and strategic" minerals in Dibedeeb region in the Kingdom's south, which includes 17 assets, in addition to lithium.

This effort came following the ministry's 2-year exploration for these minerals, based on preliminary indications of reservoirs in good quantities and due to their use into advanced industries, a ministry statement said.

Last April, the ministry signed a MoU with the Turkish company Solvest to explore and prospect for copper ores and associated minerals in southern Abu Khashiba and Ghor Fifa regions, as studies showed the presence of copper ores in good quantities and concentrations, the ministry added.