Overlooked for years, Egypt’s mining sector is now drawing strong interest from both the government and investors. In the last 4–5 years, it has undergone sweeping legal and organizational reforms, including regulatory amendments and the emergence of economically viable minerals. Investor appetite intensified since 2020 following changes to the 2014 mining law, which eliminated the requirement for companies to enter into 50–50 joint ventures with the government. Egypt also replaced its production-sharing model with a royalty and tax-based system — a shift long advocated by global mining players.

This overhaul has increased investor confidence in the sector, giving them clearer profit expectations while ensuring the state continues to earn revenue. The impact is clear: industry giants like AngloGold Ashanti entered the market, investing $2.5 billion in 2024 to acquire Centamin’s stake in the Sukari gold mine — one of the largest globally. While gold still dominates the sector, interest in phosphate, white sand, and iron, as well as other ores, is rising.

One landmark non-gold investment is the $658 million deal to build Abu Tartur Phosphoric Acid Complex in the Western Desert, which aims to transform Egypt from a raw phosphate exporter into a producer of value-added industrial products.

In parallel, Egypt’s first 2024 bid round for industrial sand exploration in the Eastern Desert attracted 38 bids from 20 companies, with six blocks awarded to four firms for high-purity glass and kaolinitic sands.

Addressing attendees of Egypt Mining Forum 2025, held mid-July, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Karim Badawi, boasted that  Egypt produced 640,000 ounces of gold and silver during fiscal year 2024/2025 — a 14% increase over the previous year. Badawi reported that total sales of gold and silver reached approximately $1.5 billion, a remarkable 57% year-on-year jump.

Beyond precious metals, Egypt also produced 26 million tons of mineral ores and mining products in 2024/2025, marking a 39% increase from the prior year. Of these, 1.4 million tons were exported, excluding phosphate ore, generating $52.5 million in export revenues.

Badawi added that overall revenue from mineral wealth development hit $446 million during FY 2024/2025 — a dramatic 131% increase, driven largely by gold sales and broader mining activity

The mining forum came just days after Egypt’s parliament passed a law restructuring the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) into an economic authority with its own independent budget.

Omar Teima, former chairman of EMRA, explains to EOG that a traditional general service authority operates under a government-controlled budget: each year it submits a funding request, and the Ministry of Finance decides what it can spend. “Those restrictions seriously limit its ability to hire staff or launch new activities,” he notes. In contrast, an economic authority—such as Egypt’s General Petroleum Company—prepares and manages its own budget to meet operational needs.

Renamed the Mineral Resources and Mining Industries Authority, the body will now reinvest 65% of its annual surplus and transfer the remaining 35% to the state treasury. These reforms grant it greater financial and managerial autonomy, while tasking it with expanding local mining operations, modernizing infrastructure, and boosting foreign investment to enhance national revenue.

Gamal Al-Qalyoubi, professor of energy and petroleum engineering, said the shift aims to modernize mining operations, attract investment, and streamline licensing procedures.

Hoda Mansour, Managing Director & Vice Chair of Sukari Gold Mines representing AngloGold Ashanti, added during the forum: “The swift alignment of mining legislation with international best practices demonstrates unprecedented institutional collaboration. The unified commitment—across government, parliament, and industry—to defined timelines has enabled us to enact critical reforms that will drive sustainable growth in Egypt’s mining sector.”

A widely welcomed reform is the introduction of  Egypt’s Model Mining Exploitation Agreement (MMEA). Egypt replaced its old production-sharing model with a royalty and tax-based system, where mining companies now pay a percentage of their revenue as royalties plus income taxes. The royalty regime evolved from a flat 3% rate to a sliding scale capped at 13%, already applied in recent mining contracts. This shift offers investors greater clarity and control over profits while ensuring stable revenue for the government.

This shift gives investors more clarity and control over profits while ensuring the government still earns revenue from natural resource development.

However, Al-Qalyoubi argues that in today’s global scramble for strategic minerals—highlighted by resource competition notably seen in the U.S.-Ukrain mineral deal—Egypt is not capturing enough value from its mineral wealth.

According to the MMEA, Al Qalyoubi explains, the government gets royalties (capped at 13%), a 22.5% corporate tax, and a 15% share in profits. Al-Qalyoubi contends that the 15 per cent share no longer reflects the true economic and geopolitical value of Egypt’s raw ores. By increasing the profit share, Egypt will secure a fairer share of its strategic mineral revenues and reinforce its economy against external pressures and domestic challenges.

One key action that could further boost investor interest, according to Professor Al-Qalyoubi, is digitizing the Geological Information Center affiliated with EMRA. The center holds over a century of exploration data, but remains largely manual. “Modernizing it would enhance decision-making and strengthen investor confidence,” he noted.

Al-Qalyoubi also highlights Egypt’s recent progress through extensive exploration missions across the Western and Eastern deserts and other mineral-rich zones. “These efforts resulted in a national mineral map covering more than 14 types of raw materials, including gold, phosphate, titanium, iron, copper, manganese, tin, and uranium. “Egypt now possesses a clear geological blueprint with reserve estimates—most notably, gold reserves surpassing 20 million ounces, underscoring the nation’s vast mineral potential,” he noted.

Now , Egypt has a mining robust legislative reforms, reliable digital infrastructure, Promising production levels and expanding investor base: all are components of the recipe needed to position Egypt as a regional leader in mineral wealth. The country needs to maintain this momentum to lever its wealth of mineral resources to be one of the driving forces of the local economy.