EMRA officials admit terms have alienated investors, but they don’t care
Mining authority hears complaints, says “Toz.” Officials from the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) have admitted that the terms of its gold exploration tender are scaring away investors. But before you see this as the first step to progress, hear them out. EMRA officials tell Al Shorouk that investors simply refused the terms altogether without fully taking the time to understand the terms. The production sharing agreement, which sees EMRA take a 5% royalty, is applied successfully throughout the world, the source added. As we noted last month, mining executives, including Aton Resources’ CEO Mark Campbell and Thani Stratex Resources CEO David Hall, have come out very strongly against the terms. These criticisms were met by indifference from EMRA, whose head Omar Taima has taken a take it or leave it approach. Campbell wrote extensively on the law in an exclusive column for Enterprise last month.