Steven Poulton, Chief Executive of Altus, commented: "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. 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 plc.
"The award of the licences follows a competitive international bidding process, in which a number of major gold mining groups participated. The licences were selected following a systematic in-house target generation programme, incorporating satellite and historic exploration data. This 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. We look forward to updating shareholders on this exciting development in due course."
