Granting incentives and guarantees to encourage investment, notably foreign investment, tops the Egyptian government's list of priorities for economic reform. Major foreign companies, however, remain reluctant to invest in the country's gold mining sector despite the opportunities available in Egypt's deserts.

In January, the government announced an international tender for exploring and exploiting gold in five locations in the Eastern Desert and Sinai — Umm el-Russ, Bokari, Umm Samra, Umm Ud and Hangaliya — under a production-sharing scheme. The tender process is currently ongoing.

Omar Taima, head of the Mineral Resources Authority, told Al-Monitor, “The [initial] results of the international gold bid so far show great interest by big companies in the gold-drilling field to operate in Egypt. We have received bids from 14 companies so far.” In August 2014, the General Committee of the Mineral Resources Authority had canceled agreements signed in 2009 with SMW Gold, Vertex and Z-Gold, after the companies failed to start operations due to financial problems.

Two systems govern Egypt's gold-mining sector, and agreements between the government and investors must receive parliamentary approval. The first system is a royalty and tax framework in which profit sharing begins after the investor recoups the money it pumped into research, exploration and project setup. The Australian Centamin Company operates in Egypt under this type of arrangement.