Customs authorities on Sunday allowed an export shipment of 1,600 kilograms of gold extracted from the Sukari Gold Mine to the Netherlands, where it will be purified and sold in the global market.
Youssef al-Raghy, managing director of Centamin, the mine’s operating firm, said the shipment was halted by customs for a week because the petroleum and finance ministries were sluggish in granting the firm export approval.
He added that the shipment is worth US$70 million. He said the company needs this money as liquidity for its mine project, which employs 1,200 workers.
Egypt previously signed an agreement with Centamin, an Australian company, to extract gold from the Sukari mine, which is the largest in Egypt and located next to the Red Sea.
According to the agreement, Egypt has received 55 percent of the extracted gold since 2012, while its foreign partner has taken the remaining 45 percent.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
