The Canadian mining company has been granted the first gold exploitation licence to a foreign company in almost 20 years.
Aton Resources has struck a golden opportunity in Egypt, after the Canadian mining company was granted a 20-year mining license on its Abu Marawat Concession in the Eastern Desert. The company announced the development on 17 January, making it the first foreign company to receive an exploitation licence for gold mining in the North African country since 2005.
The Abu Marawat Exploitation Lease was agreed between Aton Resources and the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA), and has an option to extend for 10 years after the initial term expires. The company is mandated to start commercial production of gold in the next four years.
Egyptian law firm Sharkawy & Sarhan advised the company in its deal with a team led by partner Heba Anwar Ahmed Raslan and supported by associate Farah Hatem.
The territory under the lease is comprised of two sectors spanning 57.66 square kilometres, and encompasses the company’s primary project areas at the Rodruin and Hamama West regions, where it is mining for combined gold-silver, gold, and diamond mineral deposits. The Toronto Stock Exchange-listed mining group also intends to explore additional projects within the lease, including other gold mining operations and a diamond drilling operation in the Semna region of Egypt.
The exploitation lease was signed at the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and was attended by several key figures, including Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla, EMRA chairman Yasser Ramadan, and Aton Resources interim CEO Tõnno Vähk.
Vähk said in a statement: “The establishment of the mining licence at Abu Marawat, for an initial 20-year period and renewable for a further 10 years provides Aton with the security of tenure required to proceed with our long-stated plan to develop multiple gold mining operations at Abu Marawat.”
Source: African Law Business
