Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla has said that the Sukari gold mine’s production reached 5.2 million ounces in February. Its revenues are estimated at about $7.5bn.
El-Molla said, in a statement on Wednesday, during the inspection tour of the Sukkary mine in the Eastern Desert, that it is intended to produce between 450,000 and 480,000 ounces during the current year.
He pointed out that the growth of research and exploration activities in Egypt’s mining areas in light of the entry of international mining companies into the Egyptian market through the offered bids enriches this activity with various expertise and technologies and opens the door to achieving economic discoveries and better exploitation of mineral wealth.
The Minister of Petroleum listened to an explanation about the work in the Sukari mine, which added, through the intensification of its exploration activities in the past two years, about 2 million ounces to the mineral reserves, and the life of the subsurface mine was extended from 3 to 9 years, by adding about half a million ounces to its reserves, and that one of the most important additions made to the mine are the implementation of geophysical exploration using modern technologies for the first time in Egypt, in cooperation with the Air Petroleum Services Company, which was supported by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
El-Molla inspected the excavation work in the surface mine and the workflow in the two extraction plants, and was briefed on the performance of the mine in terms of health, occupational safety and the environment, and the keenness of those in charge of it to root it as a culture among the workers. The role of the female component within the mining sites.
On the other hand, the Minister of Petroleum inaugurated the solar power plant in the Sukari mine with a capacity of 36 megawatts, in addition to a battery storage system with a capacity of 7.5 megawatts to feed the mine, which came as one of the solutions to rationalize expenditures and maintain production sustainability.
The station achieves maximum benefit from the geographical location of the mine in the Egyptian eastern desert region, which is the highest area witnessing sun radiation up to about 10 hours per day, and the largest station serving a mining mine. The station contributes to reducing fuel consumption in the mine at a rate of 22 million litres annually, as well as reducing carbon emissions by an average of 60,000 tonnes annually.
