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· Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Egypt has revealed the discovery of a gold deposit with estimated resources of 1 million ounces.
· Shalateen and the state regulator, the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, would form a new company to develop the deposit.
Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Egypt has revealed the discovery of a gold deposit with estimated resources of 1 million ounces in the country’s southeast. The deposit was discovered by the state-owned Shalateen Mining Company in the mineral-rich Eastern Desert. Though the official details are not known 1 million ounces of the resources would be worth around $ 1.8 billion at current prices. The statement by the Ministry also revealed that Shalateen and the state regulator, the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, would form a new company to develop the deposit. In a move to attract foreign companies, Egypt has issued new mining regulations at the start of the year Which eliminated the need for miners to form joint ventures with the Egyptian government and limited state royalties to a maximum of 20%. It also set a target of attracting $375 million in the next two years. Direct investments, in turn, were expected to rise from $700 million to $1 billion by 2030. The initiative facilitated Cairo Canadian firm Aton Resources to secure an Egyptian mining license in February — the first issued in a decade after a permit was issued in 2005, when Centamin (LON:CEY) (TSX:CEE) — the country’s main gold producer — was granted its license for the Sukari mine. In March this year, Egypt began auctioning 56,000 square kilometres of exploration concessions in the Eastern Desert.
