Egypt

CIA Factbook
Political rights and civil liberties (Freedom House)
Arabic-English online dictionary
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Source: CIA Factbook

Maps and images

• Egypt Google Satellite Maps
• Egypt Cities,Towns, Airports, Maps, Images
• Egypt Geology
• Egypt Geological Survey
  
• Egypt Image-1
• Egypt Image-2
• Egypt Image-3 Sukari Hill gold project, 25 km south-west of Marsa Alam
• Egypt Minerals

Coal

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Copper

• Gippsland Limited (Australian) is exploring the Abu Swayel copper-nickel prospect.

Gold in Egypt

Gold Home

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"The Great Egyptian Gold Rush"

"Egypt expands gold exploration efforts"

Geology

Porphyry granite, part of the Neoproterozoic (1000-542Ma) Arabian-Nubian Shield, hosts the gold mineralization at Sukari Hill.

• Centamin Egypt Limited (AIM:CEY; ASX:CNT) is developing the Sukari Hill gold deposit, 25 km south-west of Marsa Alam, which had a resource of 167,18 million t @ 1,43 g/t Au or 7,70 million oz of gold, at a 0,5 g/t cut-off grade, based on data from 771 diamond and RC holes or approximately 156 000 meters of drilling. In May, 2007, the estimate increased to 194,42 million t at 1,44 g/t gold, using a 0,5 g/t cut-off grade or 9,01 million contained oz of gold. There were 10 drills on the site, with 9 working to expand resources. Discovery cost is low at about $4/oz, as energy costs come in around 0,14 cents per litre of diesel fuel. The company moved to the development stage without a bankable feasibility study, but plans to secure project financing early this year. Producing is forecast to commence in Q3 of 2008 at a rate of 4 million tonnes per annum – 200,000 oz per annum. A feasibility study to upgrade the project to a 4-5 million tonne per year operation is currently in progress. Centamin announced in August, 2007, that it had intersected a further high-grade zone of gold during its drilling programme at the Sukari project. This mineralized intersection sits outside the current optimized pit shell and also outside the upgraded 9,79-million oz JORC compliant resource of 2,5-million oz measured, four-million oz indicated and 3,3-million oz inferred, which was announced earlier that month. The drilling intersected a wide high grade zone of mineralisation of 65 m at 18,31 g/t gold and within this was a higher grade zone of 5 m at 209,43 g/t gold. In September, 2007, the resource stood at at 212,83 million tonnes grading 1.53 g/t Au which included 2.6 million oz in the measured category. Further drilling upgraded the mineral resource to 7.46 million oz measured and indicated, plus 3.7 million oz inferred by December, 2007. Geological sampling and mapping at several other regional prospects close to the main Sukari gold mine also returned strongly gold anomalous results requiring follow up.

Sukari Hill

• Gippsland Ltd (Australian) is exploring the ancient gold workings of the Wadi Allaqi area, located to the south-east of Aswan, south-eastern Egypt.

Oil and Natural Gas

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Though Egypt’s net exports of crude oil and petroleum products have declined in recent years, higher prices on world markets have pushed Egypt's oil revenues upward. The country also began exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in January 2005, adding to its hydrocarbon revenues.
According to the Oil and Gas Journal, Egypt’s estimated proven oil reserves stand at 3.7 billon barrels, or 0.3 percent of world reserves, while crude oil production averaged 579,000 bbl/d in 2005, less than 1 percent of world production. Egypt is hoping that exploration activity, particularly in new areas, will discover sufficient oil in the coming years to slow recent annual declines in output. Egyptian oil production comes from four main areas: the Gulf of Suez (about 50 percent), the Western Desert, the Eastern Desert, and the Sinai Peninsula.

• Oil production: 700,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
• Oil exports: 134,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)
• Oil proved reserves: 2.6 billion bbl (2006 est.)

• Natural gas production: 32.56 billion cu m (2004 est.)
• Natural gas exports: 1.1 billion cu m (2004 est.)
• Natural gas proved reserves: 1.657 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

• Oil from the Gulf of Suez basin is produced mainly by Gupco (Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company) under a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) between BP and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC). Production in the Gupco fields, with most wells in operation since the 1960s and 1970s, has fallen in recent years. Gupco is attempting to slow the natural decline in its fields through significant investments in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) as well as in increased exploration. In May 2003, BP announced a large new find, the Saqqara field, which represents the largest new crude oil discovery in Egypt since 1989. Located offshore adjacent to the existing El-Morgan field, it is expected to begin commercial production in 2007. With estimated peak production of around 40,000 to 50,000 bbl/d this find may stem the decline in overall Gulf of Suez production.

• Egypt's second largest oil producer is Petrobel, which is a joint venture between EGPC and Eni of Italy. Petrobel operates the Belayim fields near the Gulf of Suez and also is undertaking an EOR program to stem declining production. A joint venture between EGPC and Eni also is producing about 40,000 bbl/d from an area in the Qattara Depression in the Western Desert, in the Meleiha and West Razzaq blocks.

• Other major companies in the Egyptian oil industry include Badr el-Din Petroleum Company (EGPC and Shell); Suez Oil Company (EGPC and Deminex); and El Zaafarana Oil Company (EGPC and British Gas).
  

• Egypt's overall oil production has been declining more slowly than in the Gulf of Suez fields, due to new output from independent producers like Apache Corporation and Seagull Energy Corporation at smaller fields, especially in the Western Desert and Upper Egypt. Since 2000, Western Desert production has risen substantially, accounting for roughly 27 percent of total oil production, more than double 2000 levels. Of additional significance is that oil in this area is on average cheaper to produce and lighter than other domestic crudes. Apache and Seagull also have developed the Wadi El-Sahl field in the South Hurghada block, which is producing around 20,000 bbl/d. Khalda Petroleum, a joint venture between Apache and EGPC, produces around 50,000 bbl/d in the Western Desert in the Khalda and East Bahariyya areas.

• Firms are beginning to explore offshore oil production possibilities in the Mediterranean. The largest concession was awarded to Shell in February 1999 for a large deepwater area off Egypt's Mediterranean coast. Shell reportedly is optimistic about the prospects for its North East Mediterranean Deepwater (NEMED) concession, but drilling so far has yielded natural gas rather than significant quantities of oil.

• BP and Total also were awarded a large offshore block from the same bidding round.
  

• A smaller offshore concession was awarded to Eni. While most offshore discoveries in the Nile Delta have been natural gas, it is believed that there may also be significant quantities of oil in the area.
  

• EGPC awarded five exploration contracts in July 2004 to a newly-formed, state-owned upstream oil firm, Tharwa Oil. Four of the five concessions cover unexplored areas of the Western Desert, with the fifth covering an offshore block in the Mediterranean.
  

• Burren Energy of the UK also was awarded two blocks in the Gulf of Suez under the 2004 licensing round, which closed in January 2005. Other awards under the 2004 licensing round are still pending.
  

Tantalum

Geology

The Ta-Nb-Sn mineralization of Abu Dabbab is represented by disseminated cassiterite and niobio-tantalite, hosted in a stock of aplogranite. The aplogranite at Abu Dabbab is leucocratic, holocrystalline, white grey to greenish blue and with manganese oxide spots and dendrites. It is mostly fine to medium grained and occasionally has a porphyritic texture.

• Gippsland Limited (Australian) is developing and exploring the 40 million tonne Abu Dabbab and the 98 million tonne Nuweibi tantalum-tin projects located in the Central Eastern Desert of Egypt, adjacent to the western shore of the Red Sea.The Abu Dabbab deposit is covered by two Exploitation Leases granted in the name of Tantalum Egypt JSC, a company incorporated in Egypt and owned 50% by the Egyptian Government via the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) and 50% by Tantalum International Pty Ltd which is a 100% owned subsidiary of Gippsland Ltd. Measured, indicated and inferred resources are 39, 9 million tonnes at a 0,01% Ta2O5 cut-off and a grade of 0,0252% Ta2O5, 0,0116% Nb2O5 and 0,089% Sn.