Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla has participated in the second edition of the Future Minerals Forum held in Saudi Arabia under the patronage of King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

On the sidelines of the conference, El Molla highlighted Egypt’s support and cooperation with the kingdom in the mining sector for several years, noting the similarity between the two countries due to the existence of the Arab Nubian Shield area which separates the two countries.

He affirmed that this area has large amounts of mineral resources. El Molla said also that both countries started to upgrade and modernize the industry at the same time in 2018 which included legislative framework, regulating laws and licensing systems.

He referred  to the bid rounds that were launched by Egypt using this new system to attract mining investors and benefit from mineral resources and opportunities. The minister emphasized the importance of this conference which allows communication with major investors in this industry.

El Molla underlined that Egypt sets its sights on expanding in complementary industries that are based on the various minerals that abound in its lands to achieve the highest added value.

Additionally, El Molla explained that during the past two years, 15 new contracts were signed with international and local companies for gold exploration and production adding that Egypt is one of the most important phosphate exporting countries, and that the ministry’s strategy adopts projects that achieve added value from phosphates through phosphate fertilizer and phosphoric acid projects.

The conference is being held for three days at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh under the slogan of “Creating responsible and resilient minerals and metals supply and value chains in Africa, Western and Central Asia”.

The conference is attended by 13,000 participants from more than 60 countries and discusses several mining topics, including the latest economic and environmental developments that may impact the industry in the region, in addition to the social and environmental practices in terms of competition and equal opportunities.