Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX: SNX) has secured the As Safra copper-gold project in Saudi Arabia through a competitive tender run by the country’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, according to company announcements. The win marks a significant expansion of the company’s footprint in what is considered one of the world’s least explored mineral regions.
The award is the first formal step toward a full exploration licence over a large copper-gold skarn system with multiple untested targets. Sierra Nevada plans to hold the project through its new Saudi-based subsidiary, Arabian American Minerals, and reports that talks with potential partners and senior government representatives are progressing well.
Executive director Peter Moore said the acquisition aligns with the company’s strategy to secure high-impact projects in Tier 1 jurisdictions, describing As Safra as a rare combination of large-scale copper and gold potential, extensive mineralised strike and numerous high-grade targets with only limited historical drilling. Receiving the Letter of Award positions Sierra Nevada to benefit from the rapid growth of Saudi Arabia’s mining sector, he added.
Geological setting and exploration potential
The As Safra licence area covers about 375 square kilometres, according to company data, and shows clear metal zonation: a central copper-gold core grading outward into silver-copper-lead and then lead-zinc-silver systems. Decades of intermittent work have largely focused on a corridor of ancient copper-gold workings, with numerous old mine sites and slag piles pointing to strong polymetallic potential.
Historic drilling by the French Geological and Mining Research Bureau confirmed the strength of the system, returning sulphide-rich intersections including 24.55 metres at 1.69% copper and 5 metres at 4.07% copper, according to the company. Rock chip sampling has yielded assays up to 244 grams per tonne gold and 11% copper, reinforcing what Sierra Nevada describes as exceptional fertility
in the main copper-gold zone.
Induced polarisation surveys show a close match between chargeability anomalies and previously drilled high-grade copper zones, with many anomalies still untested. The company believes sand cover may be concealing shallow oxide and sulphide copper, creating strong potential for blind discoveries.
Sierra Nevada expects to obtain the full exploration licence next year, subject to final approvals. Once granted, the company plans systematic drilling to test priority targets and advance the As Safra project toward potential new copper and gold discoveries.
