Oman has announced three new mining concession areas under an initiative seeking to expand investment opportunities in exploration, mining and the development of new critical minerals projects.
The sultanate's Ministry of Energy and Minerals announced at a conference in Australia on Tuesday that the new concession areas total 2,062 square kilometres and will include investment areas at several stages from exploration to ore processing.
A mining concession area refers to a piece of public land allocated by a government or other agency for the extraction of minerals. Oman's mountains are rich in ophiolite – an exposed section of the Earth's oceanic crust – which could contain metals including chromite, copper and nickel.
The three concession areas announced on Monday, which range from 627 to 830 square kilometres, may contain deposits of manganese, nickel and laterite ores, as well as copper, chromite, gold, marble and basalt.
Oman's mining sector serves as one of the four key pillars under Vision 2040, the sultanate's economic diversification programme. The agenda aims to boost the sector's contribution to Oman's GDP from 1.4 per cent in 2020 to 10 per cent by 2040.
The initiative reflects similar efforts undertaken by the UAE and Saudi Arabia and shows how critical minerals have become central to the Gulf's economic diversification strategies amid growing global demand for the materials seen as crucial to developing advanced technologies, clean energy and defence systems.
But Oman's investment strategy differs from those of the UAE and Saudi Arabia. While the UAE's investments have primarily focused on Africa and other international destinations due to its limited reserves, Oman's minerals strategy has mostly involved domestic investment projects. However, those announcements have been smaller than those launched by Saudi Arabia, owing to the kingdom's geology.
In 2025, Oman's Ministry of Energy and Minerals announced three agreements for mineral exploration worth a combined $500 million covering copper, chromium and other industrial metals.
In 2023, the ministry signed an agreement with the UK-based mining company Knights Bay to extract nickel, marking Oman's first mining agreement with a foreign investor.
That same year, Oman invited companies to bid on seven mining concessions for a range of minerals, including gypsum, which is most commonly used in sealants and adhesives. The sultanate was the third-largest exporter of the mineral in 2024 at $217 million, behind Spain ($227 million) and Thailand ($219 million), according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
Oman was also the first in the region to produce and export ferrochrome, an alloy of iron and chromium, and it is a key component used to produce stainless steel and for many other uses, accounting for much of the world's chrome supply.
