In recent years, Egyptian authorities have been seeking to resuscitate the mining industry, with the aim of increasing its GDP contribution to 5% within the next two decades – a ten-fold rise that is almost equivalent to one-fifth of the current input from oil and gas.
During a recent consultative meeting on mining and mineral resources in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, the Egyptian minister of petroleum and mineral resources, Tarek el-Molla, revealed that Egypt has already taken steps towards building its first-ever gold refinery.
During an interview with Bloomberg Asharq on January 12, the minister said the project – whose overall cost is estimated to be $100m – is yet to get underway. The company that will be managing the refinery is still being established.
When pressed for a deadline, petroleum ministry spokesperson Hamdy Abdel Aziz tells The Africa Report that no timeframe is
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