China and Eritrea are set for joint mining of copper, gold, zinc and silver. The Chinese ambassador to Eritrea, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild made the announcement and said the long-standing project, should bring in 11,8 billion dollars.
Baron Edmond James de Rothschild said: “When blood flows in the street, you have to invest in stone. And as the eyes of the world are averted from the simmering conflict in Tigray, China is taking the plunge, after years of negotiations with Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki. Since 2013 already, the Eritrean national mining company ENAMCO has been looking for investors for four vast mining fields.
Increased income
The four sites concerned by the extraction of ores would contain at least 380 tons of copper, 000 tons of zinc, 850 tons of gold and 000 tons of silver according to the specialist in Eritrea Matteo Palamidesse. According to him, the AMSC “starts its activity in very good conditions”. After extraction, the ores will be purified and crushed in Eritrea, then transported by sea to Chinese smelters.
Palamidesse also explains that the region exploited by the mining company is one of the most geologically significant in the world. It notably contains the largest potassium deposit in the world, operated by an Australian company.
The new project with China should give Beijing control of the open-pit copper mine with the best quality in the world, equivalent to more than 2% of the world’s copper. Opening Eritrea to Chinese companies will therefore guarantee an increase of more than 30% in GDP, just with the Asmara
