Re-inviting Mining for Egypt—A Framework for Small and Artisanal Mining

Abstract

Small scale mining employs 100 million people world wide. It is poorly misunderstood in many countries by urban decision makers who view it as illegal activity. However, in some countries such as Morocco, Bolivia and South Africa and Sudan, it is actively encouraged by the government. In one region of South Africa, the government issued 400 permits allowing the employment of 3.7 million people from small scale mining with 30 million people depending on it from indirect activities. In 2015 Sudan, south of the border with Egypt reformed its mining laws to include artisanal mining, 198 small scale mining companies registered and employed 1 million people. The wisdom of developing law for artisanal mining has not crossed the border between Sudan and Egypt yet. Egypt has no government policy to encourage small scale mining, while it has a wealth of dispersed mineral resources in the Eastern Desert, and some in the Western Desert and on the shores of Lake Nasser. Many sites are considered uneconomical by most mining experts for large investors. Following the 2011 revolution, Law 198 of 2014 was adopted to encourage investment in mining by foreign investors. Five large gold concessions were awarded in 2017 for prospecting and mining gold. On October 25, 2018, Egypt announced that it would present new law amendments to encourage investment, particularly in the gold mining sector. These laws may encourage foreign investment to extract gold and mining concentrate for export but is unlikely to create the numerous jobs that the Egyptian economy needs. It is, therefore, necessary to turn to a different type of approach to encourage domestic investment in mining. One model which we wish to discuss in this chapter consists of building cooperatives for artisanal miners. Collectives or cooperatives of miners can be formed to encourage reinvestment in community development, construction of schools, hospitals. If this approach is adopted, it could lead to the employment of millions of Egyptians, while the conventional large scale approach will only employ few thousand people. The triangle between Marsa Alam, Quseir and Qena forms a good site to establish mining cooperatives.