Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's top advisors arrived at Marsa Alam airport on Monday afternoon in a two-days visit to inspect the gold-rich areas in the Eastern Desert after several reports of illegal gold digging.
Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has tasked for this mission his assistant for national and strategic projects, Ibrahim Mehleb, and his advisor for security and countering terrorism Ahmed Gamal-Eddin to visit the area. They arrived today accompanied by the head of the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, Omar Teama.
Red Sea Governor, Major General Ahmed Abdallah, received the presidential delegation.
The visit of the top officials is scheduled to include areas of illegal exploration for gold and a number of old and stopped gold mines in Marsa Alam and Al-Quseir, in addition to Fawakhir Gold Mine.
Security forces frequently arrest Egyptians and illegal immigrants in the desert area searching for gold. The forces recently destroyed 36 pickup cars and seized equipment used for this process.
Sources with the mining sector on the Red Sea governorate estimated the amount of gold excavated illegally every year at between 1 and 2.5 tons.
The Egyptian government last month launched its first international tender for gold mining concessions in eight years. The new exploration round offers five concession areas in the eastern desert and Sinai.
In Egypt's mineral-rich Eastern Desert alone, some exploration companies estimate potential gold reserves could be higher than 300 tons, although the government declines to give any estimate.
Even though it has a history of gold-mining stretching back to the pharaohs, Egypt today has a single commercial gold mine, Centamin's Sukari, which produced 551,036 ounces last year.
