Egyptian mining industry

From 1983 to 1996, the annual production of crude oil increased from 32.2 to 45 million tons, the production of natural gas over the same period increased more than 4 times - from 2.6 to 11.3 million tons. In 1992, the share of oil in Egypt’s exports was 51%. In 2001, oil and gas provide more than 50% of exports and about 8.5% of GDP. Extraction of crude oil and condensate in 2001 in Egypt amounted to 780-750 thousand barrels per day. Almost 80% of oil production was carried out near Suez . Studies were conducted in fields in the Western Desert and off the coast of the Red Sea . According to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, in 2002 oil production in Egypt amounted to 630 thousand barrels per day, which is 1.8% less than in 2001. Condensate production increased by 9%, to 87402 bbl / day, production of liquefied petroleum gas decreased by 8.2%, to 5570 bar / day. Gas production increased on average to 73 million m³ / day compared to 67.35 million m³ / day in 2001.

In 2003, Egypt’s first offshore field development project was implemented: Burullus Gas Co. which owns the West Delta Deep Marine concession block in the Nile Delta , began gas production at the Skarab and Saffron fields located 120 km north of Alexandria . Burullus is a joint venture of BG-Egypt SA (25% participation), Edison International SPA (25%) and Egyptian General Petroleum Co. (50 %). Until 2006, BG plans to receive up to 40% of the gas produced in Egypt from its fields in the area. Since 2003, Egypt has been a country exporting natural gas. In June 2003, the Egypt- Jordan gas pipeline was launched with a length of 370 km. It is planned to supply Egyptian gas to Lebanon and Syria . The initial capacity of the Egypt-Jordan gas pipeline is 1.1 billion m³ per year, and by 2011 it has increased to 2.3 billion m³ per year. There are prospects for the continuation of the pipe from Syria to Turkey , as well as to Cyprus . In addition to pipeline supplies, Egypt is becoming an exporter of significant volumes of LNG - up to 10 trillion ft³ (in three phases - 2005, 2006 and 2007).

At the beginning of the XXI century. in Egypt, the tantalum industry subsector began to develop. Australian company Gippsland Ltd in 2001 began research on the tantalite deposit in Egypt with reserves of 48 million tons of ore containing in the middle. 274 g / t Ta ₂ O ₅ . 18 months after the completion of research at the Abu Dabbab site, the production of tantalum pentoxide began in the amount of 926 tons / year. Subsequently, the performance can be doubled. Tantalum Australia (50% Egyptian capital) owns the Abu Dabbab tantalum mine (Mount Abu Dabbab) and intends to build a tantalum production plant in Egypt. The Ministry of Industry and Technology of Egypt chose a site for a plant 19 km from the mine and 6 km from the Red Sea coast.

Centamin Egypt Ltd (formerly Centamin NL), through subsidiary company Pharaoh Gold Mines NL, has three gold mining concession areas Sukari, Barramiya and Abu Marawat / Hamama in the Eastern Desert. The As Sukkari gold mining project is being carried out in the Eastern Desert, at Marsa Alam on the Red Sea coast. Total 11 million tons of ore with a content of 1.73 g / t Au. Centamin has an agreement with the Egyptian Geological Survey and Mining Authority (EGSMA) to carry out mining operations in specified areas for 30 years.

In small volumes, rich deposits of phosphate rock are being developed off the western coast of the Red Sea, and manganese in the Sinai Peninsula . In the oasis of Bahariya , iron ore is being developed.

• Egypt Geology

• Mountain Encyclopedic Dictionary , vol. 3. / Ed. V. S. Biletsky. - Donetsk: Skhidnyy Vidavnichy dim, 2004. - 752 p. ISBN 966-7804-78-X