Although Egypt has a long history of gold mining that goes back to the time of the pharaohs, it has only one commercial mine – Centamin’s Sukari – and its mineral wealth remains largely underexplored and undeveloped.
Mining companies have long complained that Egypt’s system of royalties and profit-sharing agreements made it difficult for them to explore and exploit minerals.
To stoke investor interest, the country last year introduced new regulations that limited levies and dropped the requirement that miners form joint ventures with the government. The new rules gave a “strong push and incentives” to international and local companies to join the bid round announced last year, the ministry quoted Mr Sawiris as saying after the signing ceremony.