Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli asserted that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi tasked the government with developing a comprehensive national strategy to maximize the benefits from Egypt’s rare minerals.
He emphasized that the country is moving decisively to leverage its mining resources, particularly rare minerals, as a key pillar for localizing advanced industries and clean energy technologies.
Madbouli highlighted that the goal extends beyond exploration to transforming Egypt into a regional hub for the processing and manufacturing of these raw materials to increase their added value, support the state’s economic development objectives, enhance the national economy and ensure a sustainable future for coming generations.
This came during a government meeting held on Thursday at the cabinet headquarters in the New Capital to review efforts to maximize the value of Egypt’s mining and quarry resources, particularly rare minerals.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport Kamel el Wazir, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi, Head of the Industrial Affairs Sector at the Ministry of Industry Sherif el Rashidi and Director of the Mining and Marble Industries Technology Center at the Ministry of Industry Ahmad Anwar.
Cabinet’s spokesman Mohamed el Homosany said the meeting focused on reviewing the proposed pillars of the comprehensive national strategy for rare minerals.
The pillars include conducting geological surveys across Egypt to identify available mineral elements, establishing partnerships to import sufficient quantities of strategic minerals for targeted industrial expansion and exploring the expansion of the rare minerals processing and refining sector, aiming to transform Egypt into a regional hub for processing certain rare minerals, the spokesman said.
Homosany added that the meeting also reviewed the integrated strategy for regulating exploration, discovery and geological assessment of rare minerals, in addition to creating an attractive investment climate for foreign investors in the mining sector by providing incentives linked to production, operation and development standards.
He highlighted that the meeting tackled key findings of a study prepared by the Ministry of Industry to evaluate the use of Egypt’s mining and quarry resources in order to achieve maximum added value.
The study asserted that these resources are a cornerstone for industry, containing minerals and elements with unique chemical and physical properties, forming the foundation for numerous strategic and vital industries, including chemical, agricultural and mining sectors, he said.
Homosany stressed that the importance of the study lies not only in identifying availability but also in assessing its deep impact on the industrial sector and maximizing its added value.
He said that the current global trend treats mining as an integrated industry that goes beyond extraction to include advanced manufacturing and the establishment of transformative industries based on available resources.
The study also seeks to formulate a unified national vision for the future of Egypt’s mining sector by developing exploration and licensing procedures, enhancing domestic and foreign investment, supporting scientific and technical research and increasing reliance on local raw materials as a main component of national industry, he added.
The study covers a range of Egypt’s available mining resources, their locations, confirmed and estimated quantities, concentrations, key industries dependent on these resources, the value of domestic and global exports and imports, global growth rates, current challenges, production processes and the proposed implementation plan.
The meeting further reviewed efforts to maximize value through the Egyptian General Authority for Mineral Resources and the Ministry of Industry’s initiatives to address challenges facing national factories by analyzing current conditions and results.
