By: Zawya

A new joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) expects to start commercial lithium production by 2027.

On Wednesday, the two Saudi-listed companies signed non-binding heads of terms to create a minerals exploration and mining joint venture (JV) in the Kingdom.

The proposed JV, announced at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, will focus on energy transition minerals, including extracting lithium from high-concentration deposits and advancing cost-effective direct lithium extraction technologies.

Aramco has identified several areas with a high lithium concentration of up to 400 parts per million.

Lithium is a fundamental component of the energy transition, essential for production in fast-growing sectors such as electric vehicles (EVs), energy storage, and renewables.

The global demand for lithium has tripled over the past five years, while the compound annual growth rate is anticipated to exceed 15% annually through 2035.

The JV could potentially help meet the Kingdom’s forecasted demand for lithium, which is likely to grow twenty-fold between 2024 and 2030, supporting an estimated 500,000 EV batteries and 110 GW of renewables.