According to sources close to the matter, ASCOM, a company specialized in mining and exploration of industrial and precious minerals in the content, had discovered gold deposits in the region and will start exploration soon. The companys track record in the venture reveals that it is also undertaking reconnaissance for the same mineral in Sudan around the Blue Nile River and in some sites in Algeria.
ASCOM has five gold concessions in the Benishangul region each with 8000 square kilometers area. According to the company, most of the exploration sites that it is operating in, including one in Ethiopia, are within the Arab-Nubia Shield Region. Thus far, it has hit an encouraging prospect in other exploration sites that it acquired in the shield region.
On the other hand, the Egyptian company is not the only one which came into rich gold deposit in the Benishangul regional state. MIDROC Gold, a local mining company founded by the Saudi-Ethiopia business tycoon Sheik Mohamed Al Amoudi, has also discovered gold deposits in the district called Bulen around Moore locality of the region. Two years after MIDROC Gold acquired surveying license from the region, it was learnt that it has discovered immense potential for extraction. According to sources close to the matter, the company has finished reconnaissance in the area and it is set to go after the extraction permit in the prospective sites.
MIDROC Gold first entered the exploration of the precious mineral in Ethiopia after acquiring state owned exploration site-Legedembi, in the Oromia Regional State. It followed up on its Legedembi project with another gold exploration at Sakro area which was successfully moved to extraction phase. While ASCOM, on the other hand, is a company registered at the Egyptian Stock Exchange and has built itself in the mining exploration business.
By Wudineh Zenebe