Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced a massive rare-earth mineral and uranium discovery in Medina, a find the kingdom calls one of the most significant mineral sites under development anywhere in the world.
Prince Abdulaziz made the announcement Monday at the International Atomic Energy Agency's annual conference, Breitbart News reported, disclosing that Saudi geological teams had located a 110-million-ton cache beneath the country's second-holiest city. The Saudi energy minister reportedly described the site as "among the most significant rare earth mineral resource sites currently under development globally."
The disclosure lands at a moment when the United States and Saudi Arabia are deepening their energy and strategic partnership. President Trump earlier this year approved an agreement to help Riyadh develop its nuclear energy sector for peaceful purposes, including power generation and medical applications. The U.S. Department of Energy signed the formal pact in July, calling it a "decades-long, multi-billion-dollar partnership that advances several priority economic and strategic objectives, including nuclear nonproliferation."
For American policymakers who have spent years watching China lock up global rare-earth supply chains, the Saudi discovery opens a potential new front in the contest for minerals critical to everything from advanced weapons systems to electric vehicle batteries. And for a kingdom still synonymous with oil, it represents a tangible step in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's long-promised "Vision 2030" economic overhaul.
At the IAEA conference, Prince Abdulaziz paired the mineral announcement with assurances that Riyadh would develop its uranium resources under full international scrutiny. Al Arabiya quoted the minister directly:
"The Kingdom follows a clear approach founded on transparency, openness and international cooperation."
He went further, stating that Saudi Arabia would not pursue a nuclear weapon "through activities conducted in secrecy or facilities concealed deep within mountains." The remark appeared to be a pointed contrast with neighboring Iran, which maintained uranium enrichment operations inside underground mountain facilities, sites believed to have been destroyed in American airstrikes in June 2025.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi reinforced the message. He posted a photo with Prince Abdulaziz on social media Monday and wrote that "Saudi Arabia is moving forward with its nuclear power programme and research reactor, with a strong commitment to non-proliferation." He added that the IAEA "stands ready to support" the kingdom "every step of the way."
Grossi had already laid groundwork for the arrangement. In remarks the previous week, he explained that negotiations over the U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal had produced verification powers for the IAEA that go well beyond the baseline. The proliferation question has drawn scrutiny from members of Congress and administration officials alike.
Grossi described those new authorities in detail:
"What is important is that in the consultations, in the preparation process, it has been possible to introduce a number of provisions to the bilateral agreement that will give the agency additional verification and monitoring authorisations. These are sensitive activities, as we all know. So for those we are going to have authorisations and capacities which are very, very similar to those that you may find in an Additional Protocol."
An Additional Protocol is the IAEA's most intrusive inspection standard, a set of rules that gives inspectors broader access to a country's nuclear sites and records. Grossi's statement that the new deal approaches that level is significant, because Saudi Arabia has not formally adopted the protocol itself. Reuters reported on Grossi's remarks about granting the agency expanded authority.
The Medina discovery did not emerge from a vacuum. Saudi Arabia has been building toward large-scale mineral extraction for nearly a decade.
Back in October 2017, shortly after Mohammed bin Salman was appointed Crown Prince and given de facto governing authority, Riyadh announced it would begin limiting uranium exports to develop a domestic nuclear energy industry. Hashim bin Abdullah Yamani, the Saudi official overseeing nuclear energy at the time, framed the decision bluntly:
"Regarding the production of uranium in the kingdom, this is a program which is our first step towards self-sufficiency in producing nuclear fuel."
That early signal grew into a far larger commitment. In January 2025, Saudi officials unveiled a $100 billion mineral investment project. As part of that push, Aramco, the Saudi state oil giant and one of the world's most valuable companies, announced it would partner with Ma'aden, the state mining company, on a project to expand production of minerals tied to the global energy transition.
The broader U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relationship has shaped the context for every one of these moves. President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed on a joint project to develop rare-earth resources, a deal that would result in an American company owning a stake in a Saudi mine. The arrangement addresses a strategic vulnerability that has worried defense planners for years: China's dominance of the rare-earth minerals market.
Uranium grabs attention, but the rare-earth component of the Medina find may carry greater strategic weight. Rare-earth elements are essential inputs for fighter jet engines, missile guidance systems, smartphones, wind turbines, and dozens of other technologies. China currently dominates the global supply chain for these minerals, giving Beijing leverage that Washington has struggled to counter.
A Saudi deposit of this scale, 110 million tons, combining rare earths and uranium, could reshape that dynamic if the kingdom can bring the site into commercial production. The PBS NewsHour covered the Trump-MBS rare-earth and nuclear ventures, underscoring the strategic dimension of the partnership.
Saudi Arabia's pitch is straightforward: it wants to be more than an oil state. Vision 2030 was designed to diversify the economy before petroleum revenues decline. Mining, nuclear power, and advanced manufacturing are central pillars of that plan. The Medina discovery gives the kingdom a concrete resource to point to, not a projection, but a verified deposit.
The U.S.-Saudi nuclear agreement, which both governments said would uphold "the highest standards of nuclear safety and nonproliferation," provides the legal framework for American technology transfers. It also gives Washington a seat at the table as Riyadh develops its nuclear capabilities, a position the United States would not hold if Saudi Arabia turned to Russia or China for reactor technology instead.
For all the scale of the disclosure, significant gaps remain. Saudi officials did not explain how the deposit was discovered, whether through geological surveys, exploratory drilling, or some other method. They did not break down how much of the 110-million-ton figure consists of rare-earth minerals versus uranium, a distinction that matters enormously for commercial and strategic planning.
The nuclear pact itself has moved forward without resolving every concern raised in Congress, including questions about Israeli normalization and the scope of technology sharing. Whether the IAEA's expanded verification powers will prove sufficient in practice, as opposed to on paper, remains to be tested over years of implementation.
And the regional backdrop cannot be ignored. Iran's underground enrichment facilities were believed destroyed in American airstrikes last year, but Tehran's nuclear ambitions have outlasted setbacks before. Saudi Arabia's decision to develop its own uranium resources, even under international safeguards, will be watched closely by every government in the Middle East.
The complicated history between Washington and Riyadh means trust must be earned through performance, not promises. Prince Abdulaziz's transparency pledge is the right starting point. But words at a conference podium are cheap compared to the decades of inspections, audits, and accountability that a program of this magnitude demands.
When a kingdom built on oil tells the world it found 110 million tons of the minerals that power the next century, the smart move is to verify, and then keep verifying.
