Egypt: Gold exportation reactivated finally

The shipment load of 1,600 kilograms of gold extracted from the Sukari Gold Mine has finally left the shores of Egypt for Netherlands after being stooped from leaving since last week. The gold upon arrival at Netherlands will be purified and sold in the global market.
Speaking about the blockade, the managing director of Centamin, Youssef al-Raghy, said the shipment was halted by customs for a week because the petroleum and finance ministries were sluggish in granting the firm export approval. He said that such delays could hamper the activities of the firm because the shipment is worth US$70 million and it’s the money as liquidity for its mine project. Centamin is an Australian firm which operates on the mine.
The Sukari mine is the largest in Egypt and located next to the Red Sea. The Egyptian government recently signed an agreement with the company to extract gold from the mine. According to the agreement, Egypt has received 55 percent of the extracted gold since 2012, while its foreign partner has taken the remaining 45 percent.
Speaking about the matter, Petroleum Minister Osama Kamal insisted that the government is dedicated to encouraging private investment and said both parties have agreed on the diesel cost.
The issue between the two partners was that the Petroleum Authority asked Centamin to pay some LE403 million in price difference for quantities of subsidized diesel supplied to it from December 2009 until January 2012 while the firm remained reluctant over such a payment insisting that it should not be charged retroactively and went ahead to suspend its operations since Wednesday.
Centamin owns a 50 percent stake in Sukari through its subsidiary Pharaoh Gold Mines and the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority owns the remaining stake.