Clean energy technologies in Arab region workshop launched

The first workshop of its kind at the Arab level, dubbed "Current Status and Future Prospects of Metals Used in Clean Energy Technologies in Arab Countries" and the second meeting of the Arab Committee for the Initiative for Minerals Used in Clean Energy Technologies kicked off in Amman on Tuesday. More than 200 officials and experts representing more than 10 Arab countries are taking part in the workshop, which comes within the framework of Royal directives to support and empower the Kingdom's mining sector as a main pillar of the national industry. Deputizing for Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Dr. Saleh Kharabsheh, Head of Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC), Ziyad Sa'aida, said Jordan realizes that the mining sector can only be developed by exploring " new and promising" mining areas and dealing with the challenges of financing, infrastructure, and logistics services, and studying supply-demand side of the most commonly used metals. Sa'aida pointed out that the Kingdom's mining s ector emerged as a "driver of high-value" industries in Jordan's Economic Modernization Vision for the years 2023-2033, in line with the "large and accelerating" demand for mineral resources. Jordan, he noted, implemented exploratory programs and "successfully" identified "huge" quantities of ores for earth element compounds over an area exceeding 900 square kilometers in southern Jordan. In this regard, he said explorations unearthed "promising" quantities of lithium in Dead Sea waters, "huge" reserves of silica sand in southern Jordan, and elements of zinc and lead reservoirs, referring to the process of concluding memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Arab and international companies working to complete economic feasibility studies. This effort, he said, aligns with environmental and mining criteria and Arab and international standards and seeks to achieve a state of environmental balance and launch mining extraction if the executive MoUs for these projects are inaugurated in the near term. Source: Jordan News Agency