Petroleum Minister Tareq el Mulla inspected on Thursday the Sukari goldmine in Marsa Alam.

The minister was accompanied by First Undersecretary of the Petroleum Ministry Mohamed Tahir, Chairman of the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority Omar Teema and Head of the Sukari Gold Mine Company Ali Barkat.

The gold reserves in the Sukari mine stand at 14.5 million gold ounces worth USD 20 billion, according to estimates of the Sukari Gold Mine Company.

The project is expected to make investments of about USD 1.7 billion and provide some 4,500 direct and indirect job openings, Ali Barkat said.

The Petroleum Ministry seeks to cooperate with international companies to assess the current status of the mining wealth in Egypt and how the government could increase it, el Mulla said in a statement.

This comes in coincidence with the Oil Ministry’s efforts to attract a part of global investments to explore for gold and rare minerals, el Mulla added.

Source: MENA