2 mining companies concluded extraction agreements with Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoMPNG) on April 27, 2016 to mine in Ethiopia. The companies are Letto Mining Ltd and Lozbez Mining Plc.

Letto’s extraction agreement is for placer gold and primary gold while Lozbez’s agreement is for the extraction of silver.

State Minister for MoMPNG,Tewdros Gebre Egziabher, signed the agreements on behalf of Ethiopia.

According to the agreement, Letto will operate on 11.9 square kilometers of land and the investment will be 14.7 million Birr. Lozbez contract, on the other hand, enables the company to operate on 8.4 square kilometers of land with an investment of 126.7 million Birr.

Commenting on the development Sisay Ayalew, Mineral Licensing and Administration Director at the Ministry, said the companies would have the opportunity to import machineries free of tax and duty. He also called on Ethiopian investors to engage in the extraction of placer gold since it does not require much time for exploration.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency