Gold could overcome tourism as Egypt’s number one revenue source
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Since the end of the Ptolemaic rule in Egypt 2,000 years ago, mining had been nothing but an afterthought, but that appears to be changing in light of rich and vast deposits of minerals, most notably gold, in the Eastern desert near the Red Sea.
The leading company charged with unearthing the valuable resource, says with the rising global gold prices, the overall net worth of the hills could be more than previously thought.
Centamin, a junior level mining corporation based in Australia, says that some of the hills in the Eastern desert could be home to enough mineral deposits that mining operations could soon pass tourism as the nation’s leading source of economy.
According to Sami El Raghy, Centamin founder and chairman, mining could take over as number one in Egypt’s economy with up to LE 60 billion ($10.5 billion) per year in income.
The company has already confirmed at least LE 21 billion ($3.7 billion) in proven gold reserves in only one area of the six hills in the desert.
The World Bank estimates that if the current assessments are correct, mining could increase Egypt’s GDP by at least 2 percent and possibly as much as 5 percent.
Excerpted from an article by Joseph Mayton for Bikya Masr
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