Jordan does not have a shortage of minerals. It has a shortage of mines.
The Kingdom holds documented deposits across several regions, supported by geological and geochemical indicators in official data. Converting them into operating extraction and processing projects is a different problem, and it requires detailed studies, proven economic feasibility, and access to technology, financing, energy and infrastructure. It also requires a legislative and administrative environment that local and foreign investors find worth entering.
اضافة اعلان
Thirty-five commercially viable minerals, and a marketing problem
Khaled Al-Shawabkeh, head of the Jordanian Geologists Association, put the Kingdom's commercially exploitable minerals and natural ores at 35, naming silica, oil shale, copper, basalt and limestone among the most prominent. A significant number are viable at commercial scale, according to Al-Shawabkeh, and marketing them is the largest single obstacle to using them well.
Al-Shawabkeh called for comprehensive studies mapping where these raw materials sit and setting out the investment opportunities they represent in terms investors can act on.
He also argued for a dedicated institution to lead exploration and marketing, along the lines of a geological survey authority, staffed by specialists in natural resource management. Jordan had such a body until the Natural Resources Authority was abolished under Law No. 17 of 2014, with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources assuming its rights and assets.
Countries at every level of development maintain specialised bodies of this kind under senior government supervision, Al-Shawabkeh noted, because natural resources, and rare earth elements in particular, count as strategic materials. The Economic Modernisation Vision provides for establishing such an institution, he added, but it has not been set up.
What makes a deposit a project
Maher Hijazin, former director of the Natural Resources Authority, framed the question in extraction terms rather than reserve terms. What matters is concentration, meaning whether a mineral occurs densely enough in one place to be pulled out commercially.
The threshold concentration for any given resource depends on capital and operating costs for mining and processing the ore, weighed against the market price of the mineral, according to Hijazin.
Government's contribution, he explained, is information: geological maps, ore quality data, laboratory results from wells and trenches, and estimated reserves. Investors also need data on groundwater and surface water, road and electricity infrastructure, local demand and applicable standards, all of which feed the feasibility calculation before capital commits.
Hijazin identified a second requirement alongside data. Stable policy and legislation that protect investor rights through both the exploration and mining phases, delivered without bureaucratic friction and with full transparency.
Copper and silica sand as the near-term candidates
Sakher Al-Nusour, a natural resource management specialist, named copper and high-purity silica sands as the two resources most likely to convert into commercial production projects.
Al-Nusour urged that the outcomes of the King's visit to China be applied here, drawing on Chinese technology in both areas.
His list of what would accelerate investment starts with exemptions and facilitations on energy and water, plus customs concessions. High energy costs, he argued, sit at the root of what deters investors, because they determine whether a manufacturer can compete regionally and globally.
Skills form the second constraint. Al-Nusour called for aligning university output with the specialisations these industries actually need, and made the point that much of this workforce does not require a bachelor's degree. Technical diploma level is sufficient for many roles in mining projects and downstream industries.
On which raw materials generate the greatest added value through exports, investment and employment, Al-Nusour placed phosphate and potash first, given sustained global fertiliser demand. Together with copper, he described them as promising if Jordan attracts investors and modern technology, and he returned to translating the China visit into concrete investment.
Treating resources as a product to be sold
Al-Nusour proposed a change in posture: market natural resources the way Jordan markets tourism.
That means publishing quantities, types and locations, and identifying which industries suit which deposits, so investors decide on clear and verifiable information rather than on inference.
He listed Jordan's selling points as stability, geographic position, geopolitical calm, available human resources, and commercially viable deposits. Those elements, in his assessment, are what would carry a marketing effort and bring industry into the Kingdom rather than merely shipping ore out of it.
Manufacturing is where the returns concentrate. Al-Nusour tied a revived manufacturing sector to employment, to knowledge and experience for young Jordanians, to tax and mining royalty revenue, and to sustainable development, noting that the Economic Modernisation Vision allocates the sector its own focus.
Seven opportunities on the table
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, through its Directorate of Geology and Mining, presented seven mineral investment opportunities in 2026.
They cover exploration and development of gold, copper, zinc, lead, phosphate, rare earth elements, high-purity silica sand and basalt, across various regions of the Kingdom. According to the introductory report accompanying them, each rests on existing geological and geochemical data and studies capable of guiding exploration and development. The stated aim is a shift from exploring resources to building value-added production projects.
Preliminary results point to workable concentrations. Zinc reached 6,488 parts per million in some samples and lead 546 ppm, with further results indicating copper, gold and rare earth mineralisation. Silica sand runs above 99 percent silicon dioxide in some areas, a purity that opens into glass, ceramics, abrasives and thermal insulation.
Phosphate opportunities build on existing resources with room to expand both exploration and downstream industry. Basalt is offered on the same logic, as a natural ore with a path into advanced industrial products.
The report sets out delivery models including public-private partnerships and special purpose vehicles, and points to existing infrastructure and the proximity of some sites to transport networks, ports and markets.
The equation
Holding raw materials and geological indicators is a starting position, not an achievement. What follows depends on completing studies, proving feasibility, securing technology, financing, energy and infrastructure, streamlining procedures, and keeping legislation stable. Al-Shawabkeh would add a specialised body to manage the resource portfolio and market opportunities professionally.
Combine those with foreign expertise and technology in copper and silica, and with higher value capture from phosphate and potash, and Jordan's mineral wealth moves from potential underground to output, exports and jobs above it.
Source: Al-Ghad. Reporting by Reham Zeidan.
