2023 Conference Agenda

In efforts to target $1 billion in new investments by 2030, the North African country is modernising and developing its mining sector into a prime destination for international investors. Egypt recently unveiled development plans for the Golden Triangle, an economic zone rich in raw materials for the extraction of precious metals and minerals, both metallic and non-metallic, including iron, copper, gold, silver, granite, and phosphates.

To revive the nation's mining sector and promote investment opportunities, Egypt has launched a series of bid rounds for gold and mineral explorations, most recently awarding eight exploration licenses for gold and associated minerals to local and international companies. This ministerial keynote address will highlight Egypt's goal to strengthen its mining capabilities, making the sector a significant contributor to the nation’s economy while building the foundation for a green mining future.

Attendee Insights:

Important insights outlining the Egyptian government’s ambitions to build upon its mining potential, making the sector a significant contributor to the country’s economy.

Resource-rich developing countries often have significant reserves of minerals and metals, which can represent huge potential for stimulating economic and social growth. However, utilising these resources poses challenges, including issues related to governance, policies, social and environmental impacts. The activity from mining projects can bring huge benefits to local communities, through the creation of jobs, infrastructure development, social investments, and aid in the eradication of poverty. How can the sector collaborate with governments to create policies and strategies that enable mining companies to contribute sustainable and equitable growth in local communities?

Attendee Insights:

A vital ministerial discussion examining the opportunities and challenges of harnessing minerals and metals to drive economic growth and development, as well as the strategies that can be employed to ensure that this growth is sustainable, inclusive, and benefits local communities.

The global mining industry is constantly evolving and facing new challenges including adoption of innovative technological advancements, implementing sustainable practices, trends in commodity prices, regulatory challenges, and geopolitical uncertainty. The sector currently finds itself increasingly in the spotlight to quickly deliver the raw materials the world needs to achieve net-zero targets by 2050 in a way that is acceptable to multiple stakeholders. How can mining and metals companies navigate ongoing economic turbulence and supply chain disruption, while transitioning to a low-carbon, digitally enabled sector?

Attendee Insights:

This keynote speech will delve into current market conditions with insights on how mining companies are navigating the changing global mining landscape to remain competitive in an increasingly complex environment.

The potential for mineral exploration and development in Egypt’s Eastern desert is limitless, untapped, and largely undiscovered. The combination of the Egyptian government’s commitments to becoming an investor friendly destination, the introduction of new regulations, low-cost energy and highly skilled cheap labour positions Egypt as a new international destination for mining exploration. However, despite its rich history of gold mining dating back to the Pharaonic era, Egypt has established only one commercial gold mine, Sukari. How can the country tap into its vast and impressive reserves of natural resources to boost foreign exploration investments that lead to the discoveries of commercial mines?

Attendee Insights:

A high-level session that discusses the steps Egypt can take to develop its mining sector and become a lucrative destination for international mining investors.  

Mining projects are subject to a range of challenges including access to capital, local government regulations, construction and contractual issues. The sector has seen a substantial increase in global investments, and this trend is anticipated to continue, particularly in countries with highly sought-after minerals and metals, as well as more investor-friendly policies focused on ease of doing business, effective licensing regimes, security of tenure, flexible exchange control regulations, and where governments are committed to attracting foreign investors and boosting the supply of essential minerals and metals. What can governments do to enforce stable policies and regulatory frameworks to increase exploration projects and enable an investor friendly mining landscape?

Access to finance has become one of the most pressing issues confronting many industries, particularly the mining sector in the face of volatile commodity prices, climate legislation and ESG mandates. Considering such constraints, as well as economic turbulence and market volatility, how can mining companies raise capital to fund exploration projects?

Attendee Insights:

An important session which evaluates the current landscape of mining exploration investments and how governments can introduce policies and frameworks to attract foreign investors.

With rising investor demand for gold as a safe-haven asset in reaction to current inflation and geopolitical conflicts globally, the gold mining industry has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. Despite the uncertainty surrounding projections for 2023, many analysts predict gold is going to experience a sharp increase in value, leading to investors looking to capitalize on the opportunities presented by rising gold prices. As a result, we’re witnessing an increased number of international bid rounds for the exploration of gold.

To stay ahead of the burgeoning demand, what does the future hold for junior gold miners? How are they tapping into newer geographies to keep up with the market appetite? What are the primary operational and financing challenges faced by junior gold mining companies and how can governments bridge the gap through progressive policies to attract junior mining companies for exploration investments that lead to the discoveries of gold mines?

Attendee Insights:

The panel will provide insights into how gold miners are positioning themselves to secure forward-looking investment models for gold exploration projects in new frontiers.

Mining companies are pledging to lower their carbon footprints, which currently accounts for 4 to 7 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. As the global demand for minerals continuously increases, there is a growing expectation for a more sustainable approach to mining operations which ensures minerals are produced in an environmentally sensitive manner.

With recent sustainable initiatives such as photovoltaic plants and circular economy being introduced to produce clean energy for mining operations, the industry is seeking innovative solutions towards a low carbon future whilst meeting the growing demand for minerals.

What clean technologies, practices and policies is the sector adopting to meet global minerals demand whilst reducing its carbon footprints? What are the barriers to integrating hydrogen and renewable energies into the mining value chain, and how can this be overcome?

Attendee Insights:

Energy experts will discuss how the mining industry can integrate hydrogen and renewable energy to decarbonise its operations for a green future whilst also ensuring minerals and metals are extracted to meet the global demand.

With its plethora of undiscovered minerals and tremendous potential for economic resource optimisation, the Arabian-Nubian Shield is positioned to become the next big exploration destination for the global mining sector. The region’s Eastern desert, in particular, is relatively underexplored and hosts a wealth of natural resources including gold, chromite, cobalt, copper, manganese, nickel, niobium, tantalum, uranium and other commodities. As a result, the potential of mineral development in the Eastern desert has attracted international mining companies to start exploration projects, however, exploration in the region has its own set of obstacles due to a lack of in-depth geological survey and data. Given the Eastern desert’s under-investment in modern exploration, what factors need to be considered before initiating effective exploration programmes?

Attendee Insights

Geologists and exploration experts will evaluate the mineral development opportunities and challenges in the Arabian Nubian Shield's Eastern Desert.

Drilling is a crucial component of mining exploration projects and arguably the most expensive, resource intensive, time consuming, environmentally unfriendly, and hazardous processes of the mining life cycle. As the mining industry advances and develops cutting-edge excavation techniques to explore minerals and metals, there are currently more drilling techniques available than ever before. From diamond core drilling to blast hole drilling, each method comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages, it is therefore important for mining companies to design and implement a drilling programme that is efficient, cost effective with safety considerations for workers. What obstacles must major, intermediate, and junior mining companies overcome when establishing an exploration drilling programme?

Attendee Insights:

Drilling contractors will discuss key factors when planning and executing a drilling programme to meet exploration objectives, whilst mitigating project risks and impacts.

Mineral exploration is a complex endeavor that involves various challenges, ranging from identifying prospective areas within vast geographies to conducting effective exploration programs for mineral deposits. In this context, geophysical surveying has emerged as a pivotal method, providing valuable insights and data analysis on subsurface structures and the presence of economically viable mineral deposits. By leveraging geophysical techniques such as remote sensing, airborne surveys, and seismic surveys, exploration efforts can be significantly enhanced, enabling more informed decision-making and increased success rates.

Attendee Insights:

Geophysics experts will shed light on the latest advancements of geophysical surveying technology and trends, highlighting their importance in addressing the complexities of mineral exploration.

Mining cadastre systems are designed as an end-to-end solution that not only allows mineral authorities to award exploration and mining licences but also monitors regulation, tax and royalty collection, and revenue distribution among its diverse functionalities including web map illustrations of mineral deposits. This enables governments to provide transparency and accessibility, attracting mining sector foreign investment, as well as allowing potential investors to benefit from obtaining information to ongoing projects in real time.

With Egypt’s commitment to advancing mining as a key contributor to its economy, the Egyptian mining cadastre system is a key gateway to increasing investment into the country and is fundamental in putting Egypt on the global mining investment map.

Attendee Insights:

The success of Egypt's mining cadastre system in facilitating more investment and serving as a catalyst for transparency and accessibility for international investors will be discussed by the speakers from both the private and public sector.

Local content policies differ by nation, but they typically aim to maximize the advantages of mining to the local economy by encouraging the use of local goods and services. These policies can assist to develop local skills, create employment opportunities, and encourage the start-up and growth of local businesses, whilst decreasing dependency on imports and promoting local economic growth. However, local content and procurement in African mining face a number of obstacles, including restricted availability of local goods and services, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of local skills and training. What are mining companies and local governments doing to overcome these challenges? How are African nations collaborating to develop effective local content and procurement mining policies while also constructing common infrastructure?

Attendee Insights:

Mining executives from Africa will delve into the challenges and barriers to implementing local content and procurement policies in African mining.

The mining industry is undergoing a paradigm shift as a result of disruptive technologies and is currently in the global spotlight as a critical enabler of the energy transition. As mining companies embrace technological innovations, it’s inevitable that it needs to attract the next generational workforce to put the future of work into action. How is the industry redefining itself to become an attractive career prospect for the next generation of workers? What are the key factors that will attract millennials and Gen Z to pursue a career in mining?

Concerns about the underrepresentation of women in the mining sector at all levels go beyond the difficulties in attracting the next generation of workers to the sector. Just 8 to 17 percent of women work in the mining industry worldwide, an alarming figure given the abundant research showing the advantages of a gender diverse workforce on financial, innovation and operational performance. What concrete steps should the mining industry take to attract and retain female professionals, particularly university graduates?

Attendee Insights
Mining leaders will debate how the industry is redefining itself to become more gender diverse and attractive to the next generation of workers whilst at the same time ensuring training and capacity building for today’s existing workforces.

Egypt has a wealth of natural resources, including raw minerals, metals, precious metals, and nonmetals, and has the ambition to become a global mining trading hub, with plans to generate $10 billion in exports by 2040. To support this aspiration, the Egyptian government has enacted several new legal frameworks aimed at transforming the sector into a lucrative mining investment destination, establishing investor-friendly terms and conditions.

Most recently, Egypt has inaugurated a new goldmine in its Eastern Desert's Iqat area, with deposits believed to be more than one million ounces of gold. Iqat will be Egypt's third mining site for gold and minerals, following Sukari and Hammash Misr. In addition, the country is developing its Golden Triangle, a geographic location rich in mining sources for raw materials. 

With these exciting new developments, Egypt is working hard to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to sustainably develop and decarbonise its mining and minerals resources at the same time creating a local community of start-up businesses providing home grown support services and skilled talent.

Attendee Insights
From the development of the Iqat goldmine to the Golden Triangle project, this fireside chat will outline Egypt’s vision of transforming the mining sector as a key contributor to its economy.