Egypt is seeking global leadership in gold extraction by exploiting the strategic reserves of the Eastern Desert.

Egypt has promising opportunities to be among the world’s largest producers, exporters, and manufacturers of gold. Gold production in Egypt is concentrated in three locations, all of them in the Eastern Desert, parallel to the coastal strip of the Red Sea: Jabal al-Sukkari, the Hamish area, and Wadi al-Alaqi, next to the Golden Triangle area between Safaga and al-Qusayr. 94 gold sites, including the Jabal Sibai site, fall within the scope of the search and exploration work for the North African Mining and Industry Company, according to the first global bid announced by the Mineral Resources Authority on Thursday, November 19, 2020
Map of gold mines in Egypt

Diabetic mine
A huge gold mine is located in the Jabal al-Sukari area in the eastern desert, 30 km south of Marsa Alam. It was discovered in 1995, and work began in 2009. An integrated factory was established to produce gold, silver, and copper in the region, and it is one of the 10 largest mines in the world in terms of reserves. And production, as the value of the reserves currently in it is estimated at about 14.5 million ounces, and approximately 83 tonnes of gold have been produced since 2010 until now, with an estimated value of about $7.2 billion, with an average production of 250 thousand ounces in the first year, increasing to 530 thousand ounces annually. The project’s investments amount to about $1.7 billion, and it will accommodate about 4,500 direct and indirect job opportunities

Hamas mine
It is located 100 km west of the city of Marsa Alam in the Eastern Desert, near the Wadi El-Gemal Reserve in Hamata. The first experimental gold ingot was produced for the first time in Egypt from the mine in 2007, and the production in February 2010 reached about 65 kg

Wadi Al-Alaqi Mine
It is located 250 km southeast of the city of Aswan, in southern Egypt, and the results of exploration were fruitful in the areas of Sega, Umm Shashouba, and Haymur, where gold was discovered in economic quantities and at high concentration rates ranging from 2 to 4 grammes  per tonne

Atoud mine
It is located about 55 km west of Marsa Alam and 5 km south of the Edfu-Marsa Alam road. Gold is found in the gold-bearing veins of Maro, spread over an area of about 9 km2, confined to gabbro rocks forming Mount Atoud

El-Bramya mine
It is located at the 105th kilometer east of the city of Edfu and is crossed by the Edfu-Marsa Alam road. There is gold metal in the veins of Marw, which are irregular in shape and thickness. It is considered one of the largest and richest gold mines in Egypt. The reserve estimate is located in three ranges. The first range contains 14.8 million tonnes of ore with a percentage of 1.07 gm gold per tonne and contains an amount of gold of 16 tonnes, while the second range contains 1.22 million tonnes of ore with a gold ratio of 2.85 gm per tonne and contains an amount of gold of 3.5 tonnes, and the third range contains 0.5 million tonnes of ore with a proportion of gold of 3.00 gm per tonne. It contains 1.5 tonnes of gold

Fatiri mine
It is located at the 30th kilometre north of Safaga-Qena Road, and there are gold reserves of about 70,000 tonnes, with an average gold content of 14 g per tonne

Abu Marwat mine
It is located to the south of the Safaga-Qena road near Jabal Abu Marwat and to the northeast of Wadi Abu Marwat, one of the branches of Wadi Samna. It contains gold and silver minerals associated with minerals of zinc, lead, and copper, with a reserve size of 290 thousand tonnes and a gold ratio ranging between 3.8 and 7.7 g per tonne. And silver ranging between 43.3 and 102 g per tonne

Samna mine
It is located south of the Safaga-Qena road, and there is gold in the veins of white quartz, which bear gold, with a reserve size of about 10 thousand tonnes and an average gold content of 15.5 g per tonne

El-Ardya mine
It is located south of the Safaga-Qena road. The mineral is found in gold-bearing quartz veins with a volume of about 20 thousand tonnes and an average gold rate of 7.75 gm per tonne, in addition to about 50 thousand tonnes of ore with an average of 2 gm per tonne

Hmama mine
It is located approximately in the middle of the distance between Qena and Safaga, 45 km south of the Qena-Safaga road. There is gold and silver in the Gosan range, and it consists of oxides and carbonates resulting from the oxidation of sulphides of zinc, copper, and lead. The percentage of gold in surface samples ranges from 0.1 to 5.5 g per tonne, while the percentage of silver ranges from 0.2 to 18 g per tonne

Umm Oud mine
It is located 55 km southwest of the city of Marsa Alam and 6 km west of Sabahiya. Gold is found in white-grey quartz veins. The volume of reserves is 15,600 tonnes, and the proportion of gold is 22.7 g per tonne

Umm Samra mine
It is located 60 km northeast of Al-Baramiya and 45 km on the Edfu-Marsa Alam road. Gold is found in the gold-bearing quartz veins at a rate ranging from 0.5 to 12 g per tonne

Samut mine
It is located in the southeast of Al-Baramiya, about 45 km to the south of the Edfu-Marsa Alam road. Gold is found in gold-bearing quartz veins, with an average of 10 grammes per tonne. Gold is also found in the transformation zones associated with quartz veins, with an average of 2.5 grammes per tonne

Dengash mine
It is located south of the Edfu-Marsa Alam road. Gold is found in quartz veins at a rate ranging from 1 gramme to 21 grammes per tonne. Gold is also found in the transformation zones associated with quartz veins at a rate ranging between 0.5 and 3.7 g per tonne
Halayeb and Shalatin areas
The Halayeb and Shalatin regions contain rocks full of gold. Al-Anbat Mountain extracted 7 kg of it in the form of a gold vein, and another vein weighing 6 kg came from another region of the same mountain

golden triangle
There are also 94 gold sites in the Golden Triangle region, which is located in the Red Sea Governorate, including the Jabal Al Sibai site, which falls within the scope of the research and exploration work of the North African Company for Mining and Industry

North Africa For Industry and Mining (NAMI) is discussing the progress of the research and exploration plan in the concession areas

The senior management of (NAMI) Company met in Cairo, in the presence of Eng. Osama Kamal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the North African Company for Industry and Mining, Major General Dr. Ahmed Abdullah, Vice Chairman for Board of Directors, and Eng. Haitham Al-Abbadi, Managing Director and CEO of the company, along with the technical and advisory consultants of the company, to determine the completion of the search and exploration plan for the past period.
The periodic monthly meeting also discussed ways to develop exploration and research tasks in the concession area in Jabal Sibai, East of the of Al-Qusayr city in the Red Sea. Vision and desired goals as a national Egyptian company seeking the best investment of local resources to achieve the highest added value in the field of gold production and associated mines in Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians are the first people on earth using gold, and 120 mines in the eastern desert are the result of their discoveries

Over time, gold remains in front of two images. The first is that it is the master of all metals in a mysterious way, and the second derives its strong presence from its scarcity. Gold, according to the ancient Egyptians, is a beautiful story that invites contemplation of this precious metal.
Ahmed Selim Awad, a researcher in archaeological history, revealed the details of gold in the Old Kingdom, through the following lines:
1- Gold remains associated with wealth, but in ancient Egypt, it was also associated with power and remained synonymous with its meaning, as it was associated with a spiritual moment in which bodies crossed into the spirit world, where the ancient Egyptians believed that the bodies of the righteous dead who became bright souls turn after their death into bodies of gold.
2- The ancient Egyptians left about 120 gold mines in the eastern desert extending to Sudan, and it was used for personal adornment only and not as a currency.
3- The ancient Egyptians are the first peoples of the earth to use gold, as they have come up with the methods for the search, extraction, and extraction operations, as they put their hands on all of Egypt’s gold reserves, and the process of extracting gold was supervised by wise men and priests.
4- The oldest known map of a gold mine was drawn in the Nineteenth Dynasty in ancient Egypt, around (1189 BC).
5- The first written reference to gold was recorded in the Twelfth Dynasty, around 1900 BC, and it was written in 2600 BC a description of gold in ancient Egypt, as claimed by King Tushratta of Mitanni, who ruled in 1382-1342 BC, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III. During the reign of Akhenaten, around the end of the fourteenth century BC, gold in Egypt was “more abundant than dirt.”
6- Egypt, especially Nubia, possessed the necessary resources to make it a major gold-producing area for a long period during ancient Egyptian history.
7- Ancient Egyptian jewelry was worn by both men and women, young and old, royal and ordinary. The great thing is that because they were buried in tombs, we still have countless pieces in beautiful condition. You can then take a look at the exceptional craftsmanship of the pieces. , and also marvel at how abundant gold was in those times. golden mask
The golden mask of King Tutankhamun is the most expensive and famous artifact in the world. The mask is a block weighing 24 pounds (11 kilograms) of polished hammered gold, beautifully and amazingly made more than 3,300 years ago, with eyeliner of lapis lazuli and eyes of quartz, and it has Other precious stones are rare, including those that do not exist on earth.
The mask represents a royal headdress with a false beard, a necklace of three branches, and a necklace on the chest. A female vulture and a cobra snake rise above his forehead for protection. There are two holes in the ears to install earrings in them. “The mask is well-made.”
Valley of the Golden Mummies:
In March 1996, 6 kilometers from the city of Bawiti – the capital of the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt – the Valley of the Golden Mummies was discovered. During the first season of excavations, the sand was removed from more than a hundred complete mummies. Where never before has such a large number of mummies been discovered and in a good state of preservationThe mummies date back to the Greco-Roman era. Which showed different models and styles of art and a representation of all the social classes that lived in this era, and some mummies were covered with a layer of gold from the head to the chest area; Which reflects the wealth of their owners, and the discovery of golden mummies reminds us of the discovery of the tomb of the golden king Tutankhamun.
Zahi Hawass, the discoverer of these mummies, mentions that they give a sense of awe when seeing them, perhaps because they relate to and relate to the other world. That distant and mysterious world of the living Egypt of gold:
1- The ancient Egyptian woman derived her strength from the strength of gold and her authority from the hardness of the metal and the length of its stay bright and distinguished and difficult to break, just as the two queens Nefertiti and Hatshepsut and other famous people of the ancient Egyptian civilization were. And gold inlaid with precious stones such as turquoise, emeralds, and sapphires.
2- In the Old Kingdom, jewelry was made of beads, and the use of jewelry was not limited to kings, but was used by the general public, with the replacement of gold by metal such as copper or bronze.
3- In the Old Middle Kingdom, the situation changed if the ornaments were made of beads and faience, dominated by blue and green colors, and formed in the form of hawks, shells, beads, or other forms of parts of the human body.
4- The use of gold was expanded in the modern state when adornment became a general characteristic, as men used to wear rings, earrings, and necklaces, and then their use of gold increased in abundance, and starting from the 19th dynasty, silver was used in jewelry.