Sukari mine

The Sukari mine or Alsukari mine (Arabic: السكري Al-Sukkari, Egyptian pronunciation: El-Sokkari) is a large gold mine located in the Nubian Desert/Eastern Desert, 25 km southwest of Marsa Alam, on the Red Sea, in Egypt. The Sukari mine is Egypt's first modern gold mine. Egypt was known in the ancient world as being a source of gold, and one of the earliest available maps shows a gold mine at this location. Today. Sukari is a combination of an open-pit mine mine and an underground mine. The site is supplied by a 30km-long pipeline bringing water from the Red Sea. History Gold mining activity in the Sukari area dates back to antiquity, with evidence of extraction and processing during the Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, Roman, and Islamic periods. Modern exploration at Sukari accelerated during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Modern exploration began in the 1970s by the Egyptian Government alongside the Soviet Union (USSR), culminating in a commercial discovery in 1995. First gold was poured in 2009 as part of a US$265 million development project emloying approximately 850 workers, with commercial production officially commencing on April 1, 2010. The mine was developed and operated by Centamin in partnership with the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA). In 2024, AngloGold Ashanti acquired Centamin in a deal valued at approximately US$2.5 billion, making Sukari part of AngloGold Ashanti’s global mining portfolio. Sukari has since become one of the largest gold-producing operations in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2025, the mine produced approximately 500,000 ounces of gold (generating $612 million total revenue). This marked a 4% increase from the 481,000 ounces produced in 2024, driven by higher ore throughput and improved equipment availability. Confirmed reserves were estimated at around 6.2 million ounces. The current workforce is 4,893 including contractors. AngloGold Ashanti also announced plans to expand exploration activities aimed at increasing the mine’s reserve base, targeting a total of 4.3 million ounces of gold between 2026 and 2035. Mining operations Sukari consists of both open-pit and underground mining operations. Ore extracted from quartz veins is processed through crushing, grinding, flotation, and carbon-in-leach recovery systems. The mine’s remote desert location required the construction of extensive infrastructure, including roads, power facilities (a 36 MW solar plant), worker accommodations, and the Red Sea water pipeline. The operation is considered strategically important for Egypt’s mining sector and has played a major role in the government’s efforts to attract foreign investment into mineral exploration and gold production. Archaeology In 2025, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of an ancient gold processing complex at Sukari, dating to the Third Intermediate Period. Due to ongoing mining operations, the site was relocated to a safer area. The complex features grinding and crushing stations, filtration basins, and clay furnaces used for gold smelting. Close to the site, a residential district housed workers, with structures spanning the Ptolemaic, Roman, and Islamic periods. Excavations yielded 628 ostraca inscribed in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek, alongside bronze coins, terracotta figurines, and stone statuettes of Bastet and Harpocrates. References