Egypt is a “geological Disneyland” for gold exploration: Industry professionals are hinting that Egypt could be the next big thing in gold exploration with experts saying “the country is heavily underexplored and that modern technology now allows much deeper excavation of the ancient sites shown on Pharaonic treasure maps.” "Mining has been going on here for over 5,000 years, but in the 21st century it’s essentially virgin ground," President of Canada’s exploration company Alexander Nubia Mark Campbell said. Alexander Nubia increased its drilling in 2016 in a 1,070-square mile area in the Eastern Desert, identifying six potential mines in the area and samples from the sites are being analyzed at the moment. The AP says “it’s promising enough for the team of two dozen explorers and specialists to have undertaken plans to open Egypt’s first new mine by 2019,” but legislative obstacles continue to hamper development. "If there were more favorable legislation, there’d be dozens of companies all around the area," a geologist at Alexander Nubia says as Campbell adds “Egypt is a geological Disneyland.”