Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Saudi Arabia : The new hard rock frontier

Tonight I sat at a table of "serious" investors/ advisors/ bankers...meaning richer than I am...and they talked about Saudi Arabia. Apparently new legislation is steering Saudi away form oil into mining. ( That much I knew because I hold CGG).
After the second bottle of Petaluma (1999) extravagant claims were made! eg. King Solomon's riches came from Saudi!! - and I was told that the Saudi government only recently opened up the land for large-scale commercial exploration and production. (That I already knew as being correct)

Saudi Arabia is the size of a small continent it was said and since 1945 the amount of exploration drilling that has been done is less than occurs in Australia in one year.(That is accurate)
And apparently the State's mining enterprise Ma'aden is leading the surge with heaps of money...(Another bottle opened....(Mount Mary Quintets 1998).
At this point I ventured that Ma'aden is Arabic for minerals.
They didn't know that! One to me!
But I agree it does appear that new frontiers are opening up....and of course Saudi also has treatment capacity...and the low cost of diesel is a relief.
I then admitted that I hold CGG and was aware that Sheik Khaled Al Qahtani was recently in Australia. Silence...a few more drinks and I quietly left...
Beware of smart investors/bankers who know many things!!

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