Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El Molla, announced that Egypt’s mining sector has set a robust plan targeting mining exports worth $10 billion by 2040, which will boost this sector exports estimated currently with $1.6 billion, a press release stated.

El Molla remarks came during his participation in a panel discussion entitled “Egypt Strategy to Support Investment in the Mining Sector” that was organized by the American Chamber of Commerce.

During the panel, El Molla pointed out that the sector is planning to offer more than 200 concession areas for mining exploration and discovery, for which a bidding system will be conducted throughout the year, amid clear and transparent procedures.

Meanwhile, the minister touched on the fruits of the recent reforms done with this sector’s legislative and investment systems, saying that in 2020, 11 Egyptian and international companies won about 82 areas to search for Gold, which encouraged the launch of the second round of gold bidding.

The minister also noted that another auction was launched to search for other ores and minerals such as iron, phosphates, copper, white sand, feldspar, salts, Potassium, lead, zinc, kaolin, and Lake Nasser silt for the first time. He also referred to directives of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to establish an integrated city for the manufacture and trade of gold using the  latest technologies.

He also elaborated that a plan was set to develop the manpower of the sector as the minister demonstrated during the meeting a program being implemented aiming to inculcate the capabilities of the mining human resources and to boost their skills, noting that some training programs have been already launched to train 250 employees.