The world will owe the mining industry a debt of thanks if it succeeds in helping to deliver global climate change goals, a leading Saudi minister has claimed.

Speaking at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh on Thursday, Khalid Al-Mudaifer, the Kingdom’s vice-minister for mining affairs, called on young men and women to work in the sector to help develop the technologies needed to tackle environmental issues.

He said the whole of Saudi Arabia had better opportunities than it did even 10 years ago, but people needed to seize them.

Al-Mudaifer said that the region has “the potential to provide the critical minerals the world needs.”

Reflecting on the perception that the mining industry was not a solution to tackling climate change, Al-Mudaifer said: “That’s very important that we in the industry have to work (at) because mining, we all know it’s important and minerals are very important but the perception still needs a major change.

“I hope by 2032 we will be walking around the world and people will be thanking us as an industry, as miners, for making life a better life for them.”

The Future Minerals Forum is a special event bringing together ministers, organisations and mining leaders from more than 30 countries.

Hosted by the Saudi Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, is aimed at highlighting the role of mining in Saudi Vision 2030, after the government identified it as the third pillar of the Kingdom’s economy.