* Jordanian-German cooperation to launch a digital map that enhances the mining strategy in Jordan

* Jordanian-German workshop on developing geological databases at the Ministry of Energy

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November 20, 2024 - The Directorate of Natural Resources Studies at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources concluded, today, Wednesday, a technical workshop on developing geological databases, in cooperation with the German DMT Group for Engineering and Consulting Studies, and the German Government Negotiation Support Agency Connex, through the German Agency for International Cooperation.

The two-day workshop was attended by international experts Dr. Lucy Schlich and Torsten Gorka from the German DMT Group, and Dennis Rach and Cara Horz from the Government Negotiation Agency Connex.

The workshop was held under the direct instructions of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Dr. Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, and under the supervision of the Secretary-General, Eng. Amani Al-Azzam, as part of the cooperation programs packages launched by the Ministry with international institutions and agencies, aiming to bring in global and consulting expertise to develop and raise the capabilities of workers in the mining sector, in line with the vision of economic modernization, in implementation of the national strategic priorities of the Jordanian mining sector.

Director of Natural Resources Studies at the Ministry, Geologist Hisham Al-Zayoud, reviewed during the first day of the workshop the aspects of cooperation between the Ministry and the German side in the field of providing consultations and technical support to implement the National Mining Strategy Initiative, develop digital databases, digitize technical reports, and process spatial coordinates for exploratory drilling and geochemical survey programs, which are implemented by the Ministry of Energy through its technical cadres.

Al-Zayoud said that the Directorate of Natural Resources Studies expressed its desire to start launching a technical advisory study to evaluate the geological and mining databases available in the ministry, to implement the mining sector strategy initiative, and to explore modern ways to develop them to be consistent with the interactive map on the ministry's website, to in turn constitute an investment attraction and marketing point for available Jordanian investment opportunities.

For her part, Dr. Hiba Nasser from the Raw Materials Development Department in the Directorate reviewed the data, information, documents and reports available in the ministry, and indicated the necessary requirements to launch the digital database project in line with the mining sector strategy.

For his part, German Advisor Dennis Rach reviewed the aspects of cooperation and the timeline to start launching the project to re-evaluate and build geological and mining databases that fall within the basic database, through which investment opportunities in strategic raw materials and critical elements are presented.

Dennis stressed the German organization's continued provision of support and advice in this context, in addition to completing the project to prepare a draft executive agreement for strategic minerals, and advisory support projects for the Ministry of Energy.

The German DMT Engineering Consulting Group presented a detailed plan to study the organizational structure of the Jordanian database structure, within international standards, and the German group's plan to provide a comprehensive study to form a roadmap for launching this cooperative project in several stages, starting with studying the available data, paper reports, well data, information and digital data available in the Central Information Unit at the Ministry of Energy, and restructuring them with full support from the German Engineering Consulting Group.

For his part, the German expert Torsten Gorka touched on the importance of building the organizational structure of databases, and the importance of correcting the coordinates of global locations, in line with international standards.

The participants in the workshop visited the Central Information Unit in the Ministry building/Eighth Circle, under the supervision of its head, Dr. Khaldoun Abu Hamida, and the participating delegation was briefed on the data, reports and petroleum archive available in the unit.

Abu Hamida stressed the importance of the project, which aims to initially evaluate the currently available data and information and identify deficiencies in information and data to complete the construction of a comprehensive basic structure that has the capabilities to process and issue digital reports using advanced technology and support 3D models.

The workshop was chaired by the Director of Resources Studies at the Ministry of Geology, Hisham Al-Zayoud, and was attended by Dr. Khaldoun Abu Hamida and Engineer Ghada Shatnawi from the Central Information Unit, Head of the Exploration Department, Moatsem Hawamdeh, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Ghafour and Muhammad Abwini from the Geochemical Survey Department, Head of the Geological Raw Materials Development Department, Asmaa Al-Qurna, and Geologists Raghad Abu Ayyash and Dima Al-Bani, under the supervision of Dr. Hiba Nasser and Alaa Jawal.