Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held a meeting to review the progress of exploration and research activities for natural resources and precious metals in Egypt. The meeting was attended by Karim Badawi, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Yasser Ramadan, Chairman of the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA).

At the beginning of the meeting, Madbouly referred to the efforts of various concerned state agencies to maximize the benefit from Egypt’s natural resources and wealth, through expanding research and exploration of Egypt’s abundant natural resources and precious minerals, in cooperation with major international and local companies specialized in this field.

During the meeting, Minister Badawi delivered a presentation on gold ore exploration, search, and exploitation activities. He highlighted several areas across the country currently being exploited, along with agreements signed to operate in these locations, whether involving production and profit-sharing, or production-sharing only, as well as agreements related to research licensing contracts.

Additionally, Badawi discussed the status of the plan to launch bids for searching for gold and associated minerals and exploiting them, explaining that two bids are launched annually to search for gold and associated minerals based on the royalty, tax and profit-sharing system. The minister noted in this regard the number of sectors offered, the total area of ​​which amounts to about 36 thousand km2.

Badawi reviewed a number of proposals that would contribute to eliminating the phenomenon of random exploration, through expanding monitoring and analysis operations, enhancing control and inspection efforts, and tightening penalties.

The Minister also reviewed the most important features of the mining sector development strategy, and the components it includes related to controlling the legislative and financial system, as well as controlling the licensing system.