Aton optimistic about Egypt’s mining future

“The year brought positive developments, both for Aton and for Egypt, but it also brought some unexpected challenges. Instead of letting those challenges become distractions, we “saddled up” and have focused on getting back to work as soon as possible in 2021,” Campbell added.

“By in large, 2020 was a pretty uneventful year and I don’t want to dwell too much on it, but a few things do come to mind. Egypt hosted its first Mining Day at PDAC where a new gold bid round was announced, which has been pretty successful in spite of the challenges posed by COVID-19. In the end bids were attracted from such mining heavyweights as Barrick, B2 Gold and Centamin along with junior exploration companies such as AKH Gold/Altus Strategies, Red Sea Resources, Lotus Gold and Nubian Mining, in addition to some local players, but we still have to wait for the announcement of the final results, and the formal award of exploration ground.”

“We intend to develop Egypt’s second operating gold mine at Hamama, and in addition to Rodruin and Hamama, we believe that our Abu Marawat Concession has district scale potential and contains many exciting gold exploration targets. We have developed an ambitious exploration drilling and development program planned to start as soon as we can in 2021. There are still potential bumps in the road due to COVID-19 but we will work to overcome these. Our plan is to bring in two rigs for our drilling at Rodruin, Hamama and other exploration targets.”

“Throughout the organisation, smart and talented individuals have been focused on sustaining Aton through 2020, and building for 2021. Having been working in Egypt for twelve years and myself having been involved in mining in Egypt for twenty-six years, we have the most experienced exploration team in the country. In addition, the Company benefitted from a strong board of directors that have been instrumental in developing strategy in partnership with management.”