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The National Mining Sector Strategy 2023-2033 is Jordan's first comprehensive statutory mining-sector roadmap under MEMR since the Natural Resources Law No. 12 of 1968. It was developed by MEMR and formally presented to the ministry with a companion Implementation Roadmap on 19 October 2023; Council of Ministers Cabinet approval and public launch followed in April 2024.
The strategy operates on five structural pillars:
1. Licensing-regime overhaul: streamlines the exploration-to-exploitation transition under Law No. 12/1968 (as amended), introducing faster permit turnaround, standardised royalty formulae, and community-benefit-sharing obligations — addressing the historic deterrent of bureaucratic bottlenecks that had constrained private-sector investment.
2. Quantitative sector targets: JD 2.1bn sector GDP (up from ~JD 700M) and JD 3.5bn in mining exports (up from ~JD 1.2bn) by 2033 — benchmarks that govern MEMR's annual licensing-round planning and budget-allocation frameworks.
3. Multi-commodity scope: phosphate and potash (current revenue base), copper (Wadi Araba exploration corridor), REE (MEMR-surveyed deposits), uranium (Central Jordan Uranium Project, historically explored by AREVA/Orano + JEMCO), oil shale, and critical minerals broadly. The scope signals MEMR's intent to diversify away from phosphate-potash concentration risk.
4. Investment facilitation: catalyses JVs between state-majority JPMC (world's second-largest phosphate exporter via Aqaba port) and APC (Dead Sea potash, top-global producer tier) with Indian, Chinese, and Brazilian fertilizer and battery-feedstock buyers — explicitly positioning Jordan as a supply-chain node for the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC).
5. State-investment coordination: Mawared National Resources (Jordan's state mineral- investment vehicle) anchors domestic equity participation, reducing foreign-ownership concerns that have historically blocked REE and uranium project approvals.
overhaul that accelerates new project approvals affects long-run global fertilizer pricing and India/China/Brazil procurement calendars (DAP, MAP, SOP, MOP derivatives).
instrument alongside the IMEC connectivity infrastructure — Jordan's mineral export growth depends on Aqaba port expansion and rail-corridor capacity, creating co-investment linkages with the Gulf-India-Europe logistics architecture.
scale; a streamlined licensing regime materially increases the probability of a final investment decision by JEMCO or a successor JV, which would position Jordan as a non-BRICS uranium source for EU/US nuclear-fuel diversification strategies (post-Russia-export dependence).
EU CRMA Strategic Projects designation (Jordan is an EU Neighbourhood partner), which would unlock EIB blended-finance and European procurement preference — the strategy's transparency and community-benefit-sharing provisions are designed to meet EU environmental and social governance conditions.
2020-06-11-saudi-arabia-mining-investment-law-m140-2020 and 2022-12-09-morocco-investment-charter-framework-law-03-22 — together these anchor the MENA-region critical-minerals-and-fertilizer-feedstock policy arc on the IPTM register.
English-language sources; MEMR Arabic-language document is the authoritative record.
Parliament as a standalone bill or proceeds by executive regulation under existing authority.
(successor to AREVA) have not publicly confirmed recommencement following the 2020 COVID suspension.
JD 3.5bn export target are still at feasibility stage as of 2024.