Egypt signs 4 contracts with 2nd largest gold exploration company in world

CAIRO – 27 July 2021: The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Tarek El Molla, witnessed the signing of 4 contracts to search for gold between the Mineral Resources Authority and the Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation, which is the largest of its kind in the world in the production of gold and is ranked second in the world in the activity of searching for gold.

The Ministry of Petroleum stated in a statement, Tuesday, that under the contracts, the Canadian company invests for the first time in Egypt in the field of mining and gold prospecting in 19 new sectors in the Eastern Desert, with a total investment estimated at $8.8 million, after winning the first round of global bidding put forward by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in 2020 with its modern system.

According to the statement, the contracts were signed by geologist Khaled El-Sheshtawy, head of the Mineral Resources Authority, with Joel Holiday, Vice President of Barrick Gold Corporation, via video conference.

Tarek El Molla stressed that the reforms undertaken by the ministry in the mining sector succeeded in maximizing Egyptian and foreign investments in the search for gold in Egypt and dealing with the challenges facing this sector in an effort to make optimal use of promising opportunities to search for gold and various mining ores.

He added that the global bid that was put forward last year brought positive results, pointing out that the entry of Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation into the Egyptian mining sector as one of the largest global investors in gold activity will be the beginning of a strong partnership between the two sides in pursuit of more joint work and will represent an important and strong addition to this activity in Egypt.

For his part, the Vice President of Barrick Gold Corporation confirmed that it seeks to build a strong and long-term partnership with Egypt, praising the great development witnessed by its mining sector during the recent period, which confirms that Egypt is on its way to building a strong mining industry.

Barrick Gold Corporation was established in 1978, and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and it conducts mining operations in a number of countries in the world, such as Canada, Australia, Argentina, Zambia and others.