Altus Strategies gets confirmation on Egypt licences

Altus Strategies announced on Monday that the Egyptian Mineral Resource Authority (EMRA) had confirmed that its wholly-owned subsidiary Akh Gold would be awarded a number of gold exploration licences in the country’s Eastern Desert.

The AIM-traded firm said the licences would be awarded as part of Egypt's inaugural competitive international exploration licence bid round, which began in 2020.

It said it was working with EMRA around entering into the definitive exploration licence agreements, and would update the market on that process and the licences in due course.

“We are delighted and honoured that our subsidiary Akh Gold, will be awarded a number of gold exploration licences in the Eastern Desert of Egypt,” said chief executive officer Steven Poulton.

“The gold prospectivity of Egypt and that of the wider Arabian-Nubian shield is world-renowned; from the Pharaonic era to the modern multi-million ounce gold mine at Sukari, operated by London and Toronto listed Centamin.

“The award of the licences follows a competitive international bidding process, in which a number of major gold mining groups participated.”

Poulton said the licences were selected following a systematic in-house target generation programme, incorporating satellite and historic exploration data.

He said that work identified numerous priority targets, including areas with apparent significant historic artisanal gold workings.

“Our decision to expand our activities into Egypt follows the strategic investment by Egyptian-owned La Mancha, which acquired a 35% interest in Altus in February 2020, and follows favourable amendments to the Egyptian Mineral Resources Act.

“It also reflects our belief in the substantial investment opportunity present in the country and is in line with our strategy to continue to grow our diversified portfolio of projects and royalties.

“On receipt of the definitive licence agreements, our field teams will commence the planned first phase gold exploration programmes.”

At 1003 GMT, shares in Altus Strategies were up 1.92% at 80.01p.