The Bedouin desert tribes, dominating the Eastern Desert of Egypt were not at all interested in mining. The existence of gold in the Eastern Desert seems to have been ignored until the early 19^th century. From that time on, much prospecting was carried out to see whether these ancient mines could be re-opened and made commercially productive under modern conditions.

The results were unfavourable and all attempts were abandoned sooner or later.

The modern history of gold mining in the Eastern Desert of Egypt began around 1900. Most of the mines were located near the Quena – Quseir road (El Fawakhir) and the Marsa-Alam region (El-Sukkari).

Various small British syndicates reopened mainly the well-known old workings. Numerous though they were these gold mines never worked simultaneously. Due to the drop of the gold prices, production decreased from 1915 to become nil by 1921.

The problems of gold mining were tremendous and well known: difficulties with transport, water and food supplies but also many difficulties with mining. Although a few gold mines worked now and then after 1920, a new resumption of gold mining began in 1936 when the Egyptian government re-opened the Sukkari mines. This led to a re-opening of the neighbouring gold mines and the wider area.

Production continued until 1938 – 1945, but again due to the difficult circumstances production costs were too high and the Egyptian government was losing a lot of money. At this time all mines were exploited under English management until 1951-1952 when the English were abruptly kicked out the region by Nasser.

It is known that the last English involvement was at the Hangaliya mine (18 km SW of Sukkari Hill). As far as I know no production reports or any details of the workings are available. From a study performed in the early nineties it showed a very low gold mineralization. With an average of 0.63 g/t it’s probably the lowest mineralization for the region. To be economic profitable today values of at least 2 g/t must be obtained.

After that period no production has been reported until 1953 when a new and important mineral deposit was discovered near Marsa-Alam, and administered by what has come to be called “The Government Authority for Gold Mines at Sukkari”.

The El Fawakhir Gold mine (left) with an incline level (right) as it is in 2008. All equipment, tools and even a barrel with the extreme poisonous cyanide are present on site. The mine is on “stand-by” and ready for production…

The El Fawakhir gold mine was also re-worked during the war and post-war period. Production from this area depended largely on the deposits left in the dumps, using the cyanide method. After the stock was exhausted, the company tried to exploit the old mine but closed shortly after. 

The mine was reopened as El Sid gold mine in 1957 and worked as the last mine until 1961.

The Pharaoh Gold Mines NL (PGM) is a company owned by the Australian company Centamin with as managing director Sami El-Raghy, an Egyptian who immigrated to Australia in 1968. Sami El-Raghy was approached in 1995 by the Egyptian authorities to undertake the prospecting of the numerous old gold mine workings.

During 1995-1997 extensive geological mapping, prospecting and sampling was carried out. The Sukari project was selected as the first project for development. This company with Australian-Egyptian roots obtained in 2001 an exploitation lease for 30 years with an option to extend this for another 30 years. The company had a very difficult start because of the many administrative problems encountered with the different government departments.

By 2004 the situation seemed to improve as the government became aware of the important possibilities of these ‘new’ resources.

The adit level of the Western Hangaliya Gold Mine (left). A shaft to the deepest level at the Northern workings. Depth is approximately 30 metres. Probably this part was worked extensively by the English in the early fifties.

Recent research performed by Centamin Egypt Limited at Hangaliya (June 2004) concluded that this prospect may contain a high grade open pit resource. Preliminary fieldwork suggests that the sheared granite could host economic grade mineralization which could be bulk mined as a satellite operation to Sukari. 

The company has big plans for the future and could become one of the largest gold mines in the world. The company plans to sell a percentage of the highest grade gold directly to the Egyptian market while the rest will be shipped overseas to be refined and sold on the International market.

From an article published in the Mining Review Africa (2006) start of drilling at Sukari in early 2007 was suggested. From the Centamin website we know about the discovery of an “extremely” high-grade zone of gold mineralization on 6^th February 2008. Centamin said drilling intersected visible gold with a high-grade zone of 35 metres at 164.09 grams per tonne gold, containing a higher-grade zone of three metres at 1,842.57 g/t gold.