An Egyptian company has discovered a large gold deposit in the country’s Eastern Desert, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources announced today.
The ministry said the gold discovered in the Iqat region is estimated to be more than 62,500 pounds (28,000 kilograms, or a million ounces). The mining company Shalateen made the discovery. Shalateen and the government will form a joint venture to extract the gold, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said in a press release. That would be about $1.8 billion at today's prices; mining.com said the government expected the cost of developing the site to be $1 billion over 10 years.
