Egypt's Iqat mine produces first gold bar after 2020 discovery

Mining in the country's Eastern Desert is being carried out by state-owned Shalateen

Melting gold bars. Egypt’s exports of gold in 2022 totalled about $1.5 million, government statistics show. AFP

The first gold bar made from ore mined at Egypt’s Iqat gold mine was released into circulation on Tuesday.

A state-owned company discovered a large gold deposit in Egypt’s Eastern Desert in 2020, which became the site of the Iqat mine.

It holds an estimated total of 1.3 million ounces, or about 36,000 kilograms.

Shalateen Mining was formed in 2012. After the discovery at Iqat, it became the third national company working in gold mining and exploration.

Ownership of the company is shared between the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, the Armed Forces’ National Service Projects Organisation, the National Investment Bank and the Egyptian Company For Mineral Resources.

Nagy Farag, a Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade consultant who specialises in gold mining, told a popular talk show, Sallet El Tahrir, on Monday night that it was important to intensify gold prospecting missions in Egypt as there were several other “promising” areas that could yield more of the precious metal.

The Iqat mine’s reserve of 1.3 million ounces is modest, Mr Farag said, compared to the El Sukari mine, also located in the Eastern desert, which holds an estimated 15 million ounces of gold.

However, he said, it is a valuable source of income for Egypt.

The start of production in the Iqat desert comes as the country intensifies its efforts to secure more foreign currency to stabilise its ailing economy and its currency, which slid further against the dollar on Sunday.

A new international tender for gold exploration in at least five regions of Egypt’s Eastern desert is expected to take place in the coming months as the country looks to expand its gold production, a supply ministry statement said in July.

Egypt’s exports of gold in 2022 totalled about $1.5 million, government statistics show.