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Ezana Mining Development is set to launch a large scale gold mining project in Tigray Regional State, Northern Ethiopia. The mining development company signed an agreement with the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines late last week.

The agreement signed between Sinkenesh Ejigu, Minister for Mines and Ataklit Araya, General Manager of the mining company will enable Ezana to launch large scale gold mining activities. It was noted at the time that Ezana has already been operating gold prospecting activities in the area with significant results.

The mining company plans to invest 393.7 million birr to implement its project with plans to mine 2017 kilograms of gold in the next two years. The project is expected to open employment opportunities for more than 106 people it was said.

Alecto Minerals announced that its project in Ethiopia is progressing well, earlier this week. The Wayu Boda project in the Adola Greenstone Belt located in Southern Ethiopia, was said to have returned a report of 47.4 grams of gold per ton, based on rock chip sampling.

Samples from artisanal workings were reported to have a registered up to 31.7 grams per ton while trenching returned 4.8 grams per tonne  in 1.3 meters. The group indicated that it also had completed satellite imagery of the area.

Alecto is currently undertaking geophysics, ground magentics and soil sampling with results expected to be published in the first quarter according to Damien Conboy, Managing Director of Alecto. The mining company hopes to advance to the next stage of the exploration after completing the ongoing task he added.

Tullow Oil announced that it is about to start drilling its first exploration well in Southern Omo in Ethiopia. It is expected that Tullow will start drilling on the first well in two weeks. The explorer has hired a drilling company, and all the drilling machines and other required machines have arrived at the drilling location according to sources.

It is to be remembered that the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines announced that it was in the process of facilitating visas for a Tullow drilling crew that will oversee the launch of drilling processes in October. The crew is expected to be composed of 20 primarily Polish experts.

Artisan Gold Miners in Ethiopia supplied an estimated 2,552 kilograms of gold worth more than 132.7 million US dollars to the National Bank in the first quarter of the current financial year according to the Ministry of Mines.

The gold was obtained from miners in the Benishangul, Oromia, Tigray, Gambella and Southern Regional States said Bacha Fuji, Director of the Public Relations and Communications Directorate of the Ministry of Mines.

The amount of gold supplied by artisan miners in the past quarter was 488 kilograms more than what was acquired in the previous financial he said. The increase in amount translates to an increase of 23.2 million US dollars in revenue according to Bacha.