Loading ...Egypt Risks No Interest in Gold Tender as Centamin Won’t Bid
Egypt is at risk of getting no participation in its first exploration tender in gold since 2009 after Centamin Plc, which operates the nation’s only active gold mine, Sukari, and two other companies in the country said they won’t bid.
Terms being offered “result in an effective tax rate that is by far one of the highest for mining globally,” Centamin Chairman Josef El-Raghy said Monday by e-mail after a request for comment on the proposed tender. “With the exception of Sukari, Egypt’s mineral wealth remains under-explored and undeveloped and this will continue to be an unfortunate lost opportunity for the people of Egypt until there is reform to the mining law.”
Egypt on Jan. 15 invited gold miners to bid for exploration rights in five areas of the Sinai and Eastern Desert by April 20. The government had all but abandoned mining after its British rulers left in 1952. More investment would help the nation generate foreign reserves.
“I would be very surprised if anyone participated in this bid round with the current terms,” David Hall, chief executive officer of Virgin Islands-based Thani Stratex Resources Ltd., which is exploring for gold in Egypt’s Eastern Desert area. Aton Resources Inc., based in Vancouver, would rather focus on existing projects it has in Egypt, Chief Executive Officer Mark Campbell said.