The Future Minerals Forum returns to Riyadh from 12 to 14 January 2027 at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center, convened by the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources as the Kingdom's annual gathering of the global mining and minerals industry.
Since its launch the forum has grown into one of the largest mining events in the world, drawing ministers from mineral-producing and consuming countries, the chief executives of major and mid-tier mining companies, sovereign and private investors, commodity traders, equipment and technology providers and the development finance institutions that fund resource projects. Its opening day is traditionally a ministerial roundtable, followed by two days of conference sessions and an exhibition.
The forum matters to executives because Saudi Arabia has made mining the third pillar of its industrial economy alongside oil and gas and petrochemicals. The Kingdom has revised its mining law, opened exploration licensing to international companies, expanded the state mining company Maaden, and created an investment vehicle to take stakes in mining assets abroad in order to secure supplies of the minerals needed for its industrial and energy transition ambitions. The forum is where those policies are presented and where much of the partnering and deal-making around them takes place.
Recent editions have centred on the region spanning Africa, West and Central Asia as an emerging mining district, on critical minerals and the supply chains for copper, lithium, nickel, rare earths and phosphate, on the financing and de-risking of exploration, and on sustainability and community standards in mining. Announcements of exploration licences, joint ventures, offtake agreements and investment commitments are a regular feature of the three days.
For chief executives and boards at mining and metals companies, commodity traders, mining equipment and services groups, and the investors and lenders active in natural resources, the Future Minerals Forum has become a fixed point in the January calendar and the principal entry point to the Saudi and wider regional mining opportunity. It also serves as a meeting place for ministers and regulators from producing countries seeking capital and partners.
Registration and the programme are available on the official forum site.
