Egypt is about to launch a set of bids for precious and basic metals, in addition to phosphates, sulfur, and potash, during the current quarter, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek el-Molla has announced.
Speaking at the Egypt Mining Forum 2023, Molla referred to efforts to place Egypt as a prominent player at the global investment map, attracting worldwide interest and engagement.
Egypt launched global bids to search for gold and other minerals in 2020, with a total of 290 sectors and resulted in the winning of 13 local and international mining companies with initial investments and a minimum commitment of about $65 million.
Egypt launched the Special Economic Zone of the Golden Triangle, a dedicated platform to foster the growth of mining and value-added projects within the resource-rich region encompassing Qena, Safaga, and al-Qusair.
The Golden Triangle represents approximately 75 percent of the country's mineral wealth, with a vast reserve of iron, copper, gold, silver, granite, and phosphates.
About 11 Egyptian and international companies own concession areas for research and exploration of gold in the Iqat concession area in southern Egypt, in addition to the Sukari Gold Mine (SGM) expansion.
Egypt's raw materials and products production increased 32.5 percent during the last fiscal year, and mineral exports amounted to $1.6 billion over the past year.
Cairo aims to increase its mineral exports to $10 billion in 2040.
In his speech, Molla said the Ministry embarked on an ambitious project for development and modernization, as it adopted the development program in cooperation with the Wood Mackenzie research group.
He indicated that the Ministry aims to increase the mining sector's contribution to the nation's GDP to five percent, focusing on legislating the mining field, amending the financial and licensing systems, and developing organizational structure, mining strategies, and communication.
In 2019, the Ministry amended provisions of the Mineral Resources Law and its executive regulations.
The Minister noted that the authorities were able to adopt a new policy to maximize the added value of mineral wealth by establishing investment projects for the private sector to provide intermediate products.
Several value-added projects have been implemented to provide high-value minerals such as metallic silicon, soda ash, and tantalum.
Molla met Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar al-Khorayef and discussed boosting cooperation in mining.
Khorayef stressed that Egypt and Saudi Arabia are joined by integration opportunities in the mining sector, taking advantage of the recent positive developments witnessed by this sector in both countries.
He added that Egypt has recently attracted investors' attention to its mining sector after it achieved several developments, stressing the importance of services in adding momentum to the mining activities.
During the meeting, the two ministers agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation between the mining sector in both countries.
