Ascom acquires promising gold concessions in northern Ethiopia

Ascom Press Release | January 9, 2008

ASCOM, Citadel Capital’s geology and mining business, has just announced the acquisition of promising gold concessions in northern Ethiopia near Eritrea and the city of Mekele.

The concessions, located on four different plots of land are owned by a newly established company called Nubia Mining Development PLC, a partnership between ASCOM Ethiopia, which owns 55%, and Ezana Mining, a private-sector Ethiopian mining company, which holds 45%.

ASCOM Ethiopia is one of a growing number of ASCOM subsidiaries across the region.

According to ASCOM Chairman Fayez Gress, ‘Preliminary exploration carried out by the company during the past two months has shown indications of promising gold mineralization in the area.’

At current gold prices, it becomes economically feasible to extract gold starting with reserves at two grams per ton.

‘Nubia is currently in the exploration phase,’ Gress explained. ‘It will take up to three years to conclude all of the geological surveys that are necessary to produce a bankable feasibility study on which we may base our actual mining and extraction plans, but things appear to be moving in the right direction.’

With over 30 years of experience in the field of geological research and mining, ASCOM is perfectly suited to explore for gold reserves in this mineral-rich region of Ethiopia. Nubia is the first of a series of regional mining endeavors that ASCOM is now finalizing.

In 2004, Citadel Capital bought ASEC Group and spun off ASCOM, its geology and mining arm, into a separate company. In addition to providing mining services and raw materials to over 65% of the Egyptian cement industry, ASCOM has begun to expand regionally with mining projects in the Emirates, Syria, Algeria and Sudan, in addition to its venture in Ethiopia.