Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ryan Fahey

Saudi discovers huge gold deposits in Medina as its offers 'opportunities to the world'

Saudi Arabia has unearthed massive deposits of gold and copper under one of Islam's holiest cities.

The Saudi Geological Survey announced they have found large stores of gold and copper ore within the boundaries of Medina in a post on Twitter.

"With our discoveries, we open up more prospects for promising investment opportunities to the world," it wrote.

Saudi officials hope the find will attract international investment to the tune of $533million (£481million) and generate 4,000 new jobs, Al Arabiya reports.

The country's geologists estimate the Kingdom has more than 5,300 mining locations, which contain deposits of metal, building materials, decoration rocks and gemstones.

Mining is a sector which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to bolster as part of his Vision 2030 plan.

Medina is Islam's second holiest city where Muhammad established the Muslim community and where his body is entombed (Getty Images)

The scheme would see the Gulf state diversify its economy, reducing its dependence on oil.

Another element of the plan is tourism with officials hoping to increase visitors to 100million by 2030, while its airport capacity is set to increase by 150million passengers each year.

But bin Salman's long-term plan to transform perception of the country has been hampered by the Kingdom's abysmal human rights record.

At the start of September, a horrifying video was leaked showing Saudi Arabian security services brutally assaulting a group of women and dragging them around by their hair.

Saudi officials hope the gold discovery will drum up local and international investment (Twitter/SgsOrgSa)

The video posted on Twitter shows dozens of men dressed in security uniforms and others in Saudi national dress chasing women, beating them with wooden sticks and thrashing them with leather belts.

It then shows a man dragging one of the women by her hair as she screams.

The women were brutalised for staging a hunger strike over poor living conditions in an orphanage located in Khamis Mushait, a city in Asir province, some 884kilometres from the capital Riyadh.

The Governor of the Asir region, Turki bin Talal bin Abdulaziz, said he was launching a committee to investigate the incident and would "refer the case to the competent authorities".

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.