The Gold Mine 30 Kilometres From Marsa Alam Is Bidding for 19 More Desert Areas
AngloGold Ashanti, which took over Sukari when it bought Centamin, has applied to explore 19 more areas covering over 3,000 square kilometres, as Egypt opens the Eastern Desert to a far wider field of mining companies.
1 October 2026
The gold mine 30 kilometres southwest of Marsa Alam has applied to explore 19 more areas of Egyptian desert covering more than 3,000 square kilometres, as the state opens the Eastern Desert to a wider field of mining companies, Egypt Independent reports.
Sukari, whose concession covers about 160 square kilometres, passed to AngloGold Ashanti when it bought Centamin in November 2024, along with Centamin's Eastern Desert exploration portfolio. Chief executive Alberto Calderon told the Egypt Mining Forum the company had applied for the 19 exploration areas and had set aside a multi-million-dollar budget for exploration in untouched ground during 2027, without giving a figure.
The mine's own numbers, as reported: capital spending of US$262 million in 2025, declared production of about 500,000 ounces for the year, and more than 6.8 million ounces produced since operations began, according to company statements in September.
Around it, the field is widening. The Ministry of Petroleum and the Mineral Resources Authority have turned the authority into an economic entity, amended tender terms, opened up geological data and adopted an 'open-area' system. In its first three months that system drew applications from 119 companies, more than 14 of them foreign, which filed 403 bids on 118 of the 335 sectors offered — nearly 45,000 square kilometres in all. The stated aim is to lift mining from under 1% of GDP to about 6%, with raw material exports halted in favour of processing inside Egypt.
Among the others already working the Eastern Desert is Canada's Aton Resources, at the Abu Marawat concession since 2007. It declared a commercial discovery at Hamama West and Rodruin in January 2024 and holds an exploitation lease of about 57.66 square kilometres for an initial 20 years, extendable by ten, plus a further 255 square kilometres kept for exploration.
Most of this activity sits in the desert directly behind the Red Sea coast, where Sukari has long been the region's largest industrial operation. The report does not say how many of the 19 areas AngloGold Ashanti applied for lie near Marsa Alam, gives no decision date on the bids, and says nothing about jobs.