News

May 06, 2008

Delays At Sukari Unlikely To Put Off The Majors Eyeing Centamin Egypt

By Our Man in the City

A mere shortage of concrete has pushed back first production from Centamin’s giant Sukari gold mine in Egypt. The three month delay is nothing to worry about, according to the company’s house broker, Ambrian. “These small delays happen to most new mines around the world,” says analyst Brock Salier, trying to ease concerns that one slip-up will lead to greater delays as Centamin tries to finish the final phases of development. “This is now a major construction project. Everything is on site and Centamin is taking a systematic approach to assembling Sukari”.

Sukari is one of the biggest gold mines to be brought into production by anyone other than a major for many years. It’s certainly one of the largest gold projects in Egypt, a country relatively new to mining, as small to middle-sized oil plays have traditionally been dominant in the natural resources space. This means Sukari could become the benchmark for how future gold mines are developed in Egypt.

The processing plant was meant to have been commissioned towards the end of this year but...