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Sunday, 28 November 2021

State plans to start commercial operations at 1-mn oz gold concession in Eastern Desert

The Oil Ministry plans in the coming months to start commercial gold exploration at the Iqat area in the Eastern Desert, which is thought to house more than 1 mn ounces of gold, the ministry announced yesterday. More than USD 1 bn could be invested over the next 10 years in the deposit, which falls within the state-owned Shalateen Mining Company’s concession area. The area has an average gold concentration of 1.5 grams per tonne of rock, Oil Minister Tarek El Molla said in the statement.

Doing the digging: Iqat Gold Mining Company — a joint venture company set up by the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority and the military-owned Shalateen Mining Company — is developing the concession, making it only the third gold mine operator in the country, alongside Centamin and the Hamash Company, a JV between the state and Cyprus’ Matz Holding.

The news was picked up by the foreign press: Al Arabiya | CNN | CNBC Arabia.

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