17 firms want gold licences for Egypt's Eastern Desert
Countries including Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Australia, Cyprus and Iraq are interested in gold exploration in the region.
Posted: Thursday , 20 Aug 2009
CAIRO (Reuters) -
mineweb.net
Some 17 companies from countries including Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Australia, Cyprus and Iraq are interested in gold exploration licences in Egypt's Eastern Desert, the petroleum minister said.
"It's clear that gold is starting to create a success story," Sameh Fahmy said on Thursday at a news conference, when asked about interest in the bidding round for gold exploration in seven blocks in the Eastern Desert. Bids are due by October 7.
The news conference followed a signing ceremony for a licence worth $4.5 million for Cypriot firm Matz Holdings to explore for gold and minerals in an area of 590 square km, also in the Eastern Desert.
Matz Holdings already operates with an Egyptian partner in Hamash, around 30 km from the new concession.
Zeinhoum el-Alfi, Director of Hamash Company, Matz Holdings' Egyptian partner in the area, said the Hamash mine had already produced 60 kg of gold this year and that the partners hoped ultimately to produce 1 tonne of gold per year from the mine.
Egypt said last year it wanted to produce 8 tonnes of gold from its mines in 2009.
Output had stalled since the late 1950s, when the volume mined was considered too small to be profitable.
Egypt's gold sector got a boost in 2007 when a memorandum of understanding was signed with the International Finance Corp (IFC), the private sector lender of the World Bank, to replace antiquated mining laws.
Egypt's old regulations, based on profit-sharing, made it virtually impossible for foreign mining players to exploit the reserves, while local companies lacked the capital or expertise to develop a commercial, home-grown industry.
Since then, firms from Canada, Australia, Europe and the United Arab Emirates have won bids to explore for gold. |
