Ascom Mining, an international mining company exploring gold in Ethiopia, is going to get a license for a large scale gold mining from Ministry of Mines.

ASCOM has been involved in the exploration for gold in the Benishangul Gumuz State, Assosa Zone, Sherkole Wereda, Shungu and Nazali localities since 2009.

Back in March 2014, experts from ASCOM made a presentation to officials from the Ministry of Mines about a discovery of primary gold in the license area covering 268.17 square meters. The gold deposit is estimated to be more than 70 tones and it is discovered in a mountain commonly known as Dish Mountain.

Tolossa Shagi Moti, Minister for Mines, noted the firm made presentation of the progress report two times. “We have informed them to expedite work on the feasibility study,” Tolossa said. Once the feasibility study has been conducted and the Ministry reviews it, ASCOM will be granted with a large scale mining license, the Minister furthered.

It was back in Thursday, November 20, 2008 the mining company secured the gold and base metals exploration license from Ariab Gold Mining Plc, a Sudanese and Ethiopian JV.

ASCOM Mining Ethiopia Plc is formed by different shareholders. ASCOM Precious Metals BVI is the major shareholder and holds 96 percent of the company. The rest four percent are owned by Ariab Gold Mining Plc.

Even if the shareholders are only two they have different nationalities. They are from Sudan, Egypt, the Middle East and other North African countries.

In addition to its sites in Benshangul Gumuz, ASCOM has another exploration license in Gambela State.

Source: The Reporter