Eritrea expects to have four mines in operation by 2018 producing gold, copper, zinc and potash as one of Africa’s poorest nations looks to build an industry that can kick-start its economy, a top mining official told Reuters. Eritrea’s artisanal miners have long scratched for gold nuggets on deposits that stretch along the Red Sea, a geological formation known as the Arabian Nubian Shield, but the country currently has just one working commercial mine. The industry is growing, however. A new gold mine, a joint venture with a Chinese firm, will start commercial production by the end of March, the director-general of the department of mines said. It will be followed by a mine that will, in stages, produce gold, copper and zinc, which is expected to start operations by the end of 2017, then a potash mine, Alem Kibreab said in an interview in his office in the capital Asmara. “In 2018, we will have four mining companies,” he said.
