Centamin Says Contract Valid, Continues To Mine

Miner Centamin said its contract to mine gold at its key Sukari asset in Egypt remained valid, dismissing news emerging from an administrative court as “comments”.

The company said on Tuesday that the the administrative court did not have the jurisdiction to cancel the contract and added that mining operations continued as normal.

An Egyptian administrative court had said earlier on Tuesday that Centamin’s contract to exploit the Sukari was void, sending its shares plunging to a three-year low before they were suspended.

A Centamin official in Egypt said on Tuesday his firm was studying a court ruling that declared the deal to work the Sukari mine void, the official state news agency reported.

Esmat El-Raghy, spokesman for Centamin in Egypt, also told the news agency that the deal with the government was “not a contract but a law”, number 222 and issued in 1994, echoing previous comments by company officials on the case.

Reuters