Activities

GOLD IN EGYPT              

AND THE PROSPECTION GUIDE

Conversation to know more about the best MSc; 

Faculty of Science is the place of depot of science and scientists & it used to have such successful examples,  as one of those examples we had this spectacular conversation with: Amir Mohamed Hassan Said, assistant lecturer in Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, entered the Faculty of Science in 1996 and was the first student  in his undergraduate study, he has been graduated in 2000, and received his MSc in 2005  he became assistant lecturer in 2006 and is now working on his PHD about two years ago.

 Q1: We knew that your master was about gold, where did this idea come from?

 The idea was first proposed by late prof.: Maher Azmy Taka (Prof of economic geology) who gave me two different MSc topics to choose from, the first was about ilmenite and the second was about gold. That was actually because my study was to be in economic geology. I didn’t choose the ilmenite as an ore for my studying and that is because unlike sulfides, the oxides are nearly similar in colors under the microscope. So the gold was my choice because it is clearer in studying and has a higher economic value in Egypt, it was said (in old times) by ancient Egyptians that the dust of Egypt is made of gold. But unfortunately there are no enough investments capable of dealing with extraction of gold.

Q2:  Tell us about the extraction of gold in the first place?

The extraction of gold passes through several stages, at first certain tests & accurate measurements are needed to recognize the percentage of gold existence

and the most important is to figure out the convenient place of digging & that is by finding gold veins & tracing them to know the appropriate place to start digging.

Then we take the rocks to be grinded in the miller& actually this process costs a lot because the digging is in basement rocks (igneous or metamorphic) which are very hard & need a lot of work to be crushed in addition to the transition process & grinding process unlike the oil extraction which is almost done in sedimentary rock & this needs less efforts & of course less money.

Then we add the Cyanide on the grinded rocks & leave the pile so that the Cyanide can be amalgamated with gold.  This process takes almost one month & called amalgamation  process then we get the solution to go through other processes to separate the gold as a final product.

Of course this process needs a lot of money & a lot of efforts plus a lot of obstacles to get over & that is because of using the cyanide which causes environmental pollution and so we need the approval to use it which costs money, efforts and time, in addition to the cost of other processes of amalgamation and separation.

Q3:  Do you think extraction of gold is a good investment after all these costing processes?

 Sure. It is a very good investment as the average cost of extraction of one ounce of gold (~33 gm) is about 450$ in most mines in the world and this includes all the processes of digging, extraction, the charges of the workers and all the other things needed to get one ounce of gold, on the other hand, the price of one ounce of pure gold is reaching up to 900$ which means that the profit percentage is 200%.

The profit of gold extraction which you can get is after at least five years and this is a reason of why most investments don’t go for gold extraction.

Q4: So, after knowing the process of gold extraction and its economic value, we would like to link this with your MSc

Simply, the studying was a bout how to figure out an exploration guide to find the places for gold deposits to save time & efforts and that is by finding the connection between the structure and the mineralization in the main mines and trying to find the same setting in other environs. This is the first and prior idea in finding a link between mineralization and structure. So far, no new gold mine was discovered after the time of pharos, but the extraction perform from old mines already exist. For clarification here is the following example:

Now, we will assume the presence of a mine with an old openings, that’s where we start searching for the gold in the surrounding environs, the most important aspect is where exactly to start searching; so this is the point which introduces the idea of connecting mineralization and structure for prospecting the appropriate place for digging. Now we have to figure out this appropriate site, so we try to compare the structure and the mineralization of the main hole with the place of interest. These steps are called the prospection guide method. Unlikely, the ancient Egyptians did not use the prospection guide method, they only depended on the naked eye to find the gold veins on the land's surface and all they have to do then is to extract gold from them. The extraction process lasts until the gold is not seen any more by naked eye. The deepest pharaonic gold mine was only 25 meters where the depth of the newly re-extracted gold mines reached 380 meters as in Barramiya and Hammash.

My study is based on Barramiya mine which is lies on Idfu -Marsa Alam road, this mine contains 2 holes for extraction were digged by the ancient Egyptians  and then redigged for gold extraction by the British till 1962. We tested the mine holes very carefully to know the probability of gold existence around these holes and where exactly it exists and thus where to start digging in this area and this is by knowing structure and favorable area i.e the places available for existence or formation of gold. This step is similar to the oil extraction with considering the presence of productive formation leading to the probability of oil existence in this area which facilitates the discovery of the convenient place for digging the well.

Q5: The idea of gold origin changed over the previous years why did the idea change and what was it?

The mineralization in Egypt previously depended on coincidence without using any scientific technology in the research. There was a prevailing wrong idea about the origin of gold as the gold seekers thought that gold is an element existing in the late magmatic solution, and thus come out with the granitic rocks. Since quartz also exists in the late of magmatic solution so the gold exists as gold-bearing quartz veins in these rocks.

This wrong idea was dominating till 1989 when the late professor: Maher Azmy Taka my supervisor proved that this idea is completely wrong & that is why there is no gold in Sinai although the existence of granite in a large amount. He and his co-workers discovered that the source of gold is mainly gabbros, arc volcanics and/or serpentinites with little contribution from granites. The granite just works as heat engin to release gold by heating, which at last resulted as gold-bearing quartz veins .to confirm the correctness of his idea, it was found that the percentage of gold in granite is nearly a bout 20 ppb and this is a very scanty percentage compared with gold in serpentinite which is 360 ppb.

Q6: What is the most important fields of work now, and Do you think that gold has the future of Egypt?

This is really very important point as a lot of people think that geology is no more than the studying of oil & they think that to have a career in this field you have to work on oil extraction or oil investments, that is because of our limited knowledge about geological sciences. I would like to say that all data confirm that the oil stocks go down in Egypt, however it is still a good investment, but we must expect some declining in its activity, and then there are a lot of efforts now go for natural gas which is mainly in the Nile Delta.

Concerning gold, no one can deny that the gold investment has a good chance in Egypt now & we can see intense work in Hammash & Sukary mines, which are considered now the main mining source in Egypt as a Cyprian company works on the first one & another from Australia on the second, that is plus about three mines in Wadi Allaqi under control of a Russian company working there.

 I just want to clarify that geology means the study of all minerals & rocks and all ingredients of earth.

Q7:  Tell us about considering your master as a good investment?

 My studying was evaluated as the best MSc. & now the idea of connecting the structure & mineralization is being used in some mines, but the maximum availing will be on the Barramiya mine because there already existed prospection guide which make it easy to find the most convenient place to dig, actually this prospection guide was in the spot of my studying.

Now this mine can be considered as a good investment, because of the possibility of finding high gold percentage.

Q8: What obstacles did you face as a geologist at work and do you think those can be avoided? 

 Certainly there were some obstacles that could face any researcher, including field work where, this work requires many preparations and most the important, is to know how to deal with the field and avoid being hurt, especially since the mine was clinched away from the nearest hospital with 90 km. Also the materials of the research are possible obstacle to any researcher; the faculty can not be blamed for this because aid for scientific research is very small. The biggest obstacle was the death of my supervisor, Dr. Maher Azmi, certainly that was not my choice and could not be avoided. But by the aid of my God and with the great help offered by Dr. Shawky Sakran (my co-supervisor) we could complete the work.

It was necessary after this scientific talk, to talk a little about geology   and students and to have some helpful advices to help us in the study and after graduation

Q9: In your opinion, Is there any consensus among the subjects taught for students in the Department of Geology and the labour market?

  Yes, there is a large consensus between the studying materials and the labour market. Unlike other departments of the Faculty of Science, which unfortunately big departments, There are chances to work in the same discipline in Egypt. to advise; always choose the appropriate disciplinary, no matter there is work after graduation or not, you must study what you like to study!

Q10: What is your opinion on scientific trips? Is it of great importance?

Geoscientific trips are useful and very important for students. The geologist who didn’t go those trips is similar to the surgeon who did not enter the operations room, because the student loses how to deal with the most important part that he must know what the field is? Geology means field work, if you want to be successful geologist you have to know how to deal with this by noting several points during the trip and even if you did not come out with the needed information, it is enough to know how to deal with the deserts and mountains.

For example:

• How to climb or to go down of the mountain.
• How and where I can get a rock sample from the mountain. Many students took considerable time to break the rock of the mountain, others can not be able to do it.
• How to use a compass and how to direct it.
• How to deal cautiously with the mountains and the desert in general. And so you don’t get hurt by either rocks or any harmful animal or insect.
• How to deal with the inhabitants of the mountain, this point is very important. Montenegro's population are (Bedouins in the Sinai and Abada in the Eastern Desert) for when you go to areas inhabited by those you considered an alien for them and they have the right to stop you and even prevent you of climbing the mountain. Therefore, it is very important to learn how to deal with these minds yen and calm to get your work done.
• How I can live in the field for some days, and this is very important because you leave the city and all its facilities and go to the desert and it may be just temporary tent to live in.

and this only will be available to learn while you are a student, because we always in these trips take into account the serious student & help him with his work, but after graduation probably you will find no one tells you advices & you may fall into problems because you did not learn how to deal directly with the field and desert before.

Q11: What is the most important advice you wish to tell to geology student in particular & to any student in general?

I would like to say to students interested in geology that he has to know about the all branches of geology, and not to limit his thinking at work in one area as I mentioned before, and to put in consideration the scientific trips.

I would also like to say to any student in general to know more English & try to be good at it because many students believed that studying his subjects in English is enough to know it, but this is not true because the studying of scientific language is completely different from general language which is spoken in interviews. I would like to point out that Egypt has a very rich English language learning books and this is not something difficult it only requires some organization in your time.

In the end we would like to thank you very much for all this useful information and your time to have this wonderful & useful conversation,
                with all appreciation and respect..

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