The Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) signed an agreement with Canadian Lotus Gold Corporation for exploration concessions on 525 square kilometres with $2.5 million in investments, according to a ministerial statement on Sunday.
Lotus won two rounds of a gold exploration tender by the EMRA in 2020 and 2021 for exploration concessions in a total area of 1,219 square kilometres for the first round.
The second round of the tender covers 525 square kilometres, which is subject to the recent agreement with the EMRA.
Lotus Gold Corporation is a private Canadian gold exploration and development company, focused on the Egyptian Eastern Desert. Its interests include 10 blocks and a leading in-country land package of 1,740 square kilometres within the highly prospective Arabian-Nubian shield, according to the company’s website.
Egypt is localizing a sustainable mining industry with modern technology in partnership with purposeful entities, said Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.
The country’s gold production amounts to about 15.8 tons per year, most of which comes from Sukari in the Eastern Desert, according to a report by the World Gold Council.
Egyptian gold exports grew by 45 percent to reach $1.633 billion in 2022, up from $1.126 billion in 2021, according to Egypt’s General Organization for Export and Import Control.
Egypt is home to about 270 gold sites, including 120 sites and mines from which gold was extracted in ancient times, including the Sukari mine, the largest and most famous in the country.
In the second half of 2023, the government launched new tenders for mining gold and precious metals in the country.
In August, state-owned Shalateen Mineral Resources Company (SMRC) extended its bid round for the exploration and exploitation of gold in the Eastern Desert for another three months, with the new deadline on 9 November.