All you need to know about Egypt’s black sand separation, concentration factory complex

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Black Sand Company, Major General Magdy al-Taweel, confirmed that the project of the complex of factories for concentration and separation of heavy economic minerals extracted from black sand.

This is a project of high economic feasibility that is attractive to investments, adding to this project provides 5,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in the governorates.

The project aims to concentrate and separate economic minerals extracted from black sand and its initiative is in cooperation with foreign expertise and the Nuclear Materials Authority to localize modern technologies for this technology, he added.

Taweel said – in a speech during the opening of the black sand factories complex in Kafr el-Sheikh governorate in the presence of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi – that the black sand residues are found on the Mediterranean coast in the region from Abu Qir in the west to Rafah in the east and on the Red Sea coast from south of Marsa Alam to south Berenice and Lake Nasser.

He pointed out that an integrated feasibility study for the project was prepared by the major international companies working in the field of mining.

The feasibility study took three years and included the economic feasibility study for the project, the environmental impact assessment study, the marketing study and the mining reserve study.

He explained that the project aims to establish new industrial complexes, as these minerals have a wide range of industrial applications in addition to their ability to be processed.

He added that it aims to maximize the added value.

This means that to create giant industrial entities as well as achieving an economic return and providing foreign currencies by covering the local market of minerals and exploiting the increasing global demand through exporting the surplus.

The project produces many important economic minerals that are included in many strategic industries such as germanite and rutile, which are a major source for the production of titanium metal, which is included in important strategic industries such as the manufacture of aircraft structures, missiles, submarines, space vehicles and prosthetic devices, as well as the production of titanium dioxide.

These are used in the manufacture of paints, dyes, paper, leather, and medical preparations, Taweel stated.

The project also produces zircon metal, which is used in the manufacture of ceramics, sanitary ware, glass, alloys, motors, dental fittings and furnace lining.

According to Taweel, magnetite is used in the manufacture of sponge iron, high-quality cast iron, high-temperature concrete, and mineral fertilizers.

It is also used to remove salinity in the soil.

Garnet is a mineral that is used in the manufacture of bay stones, sandpaper, water filters, cutting marble and granite by air and water pressure, while zircon is a major source of rare earth elements that are used in the manufacture of electronic chips used in high-tech industries such as smart phones, electric cars and a secondary source of cerium and uranium, he added.

He explained that mining in many countries is the primary source of their wealth and the strength of their economy, as it does not need expensive raw materials like other industries, but rather needs proper planning to maximize the return and benefits of natural resources and to manage these resources in a sound economic manner.

Taweel said that the Egyptian Black Sand Company was established as an Egyptian joint stock company in cooperation with the National Service Projects Organization, the Nuclear Materials Authority, the National Investment Bank, the Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate and the Egyptian Company for Mineral Resources.

Taweel explained that the project, which starts production, Wednesday, in the Borollos area in Kafr el-Sheikh, consists of two groups of factories.

The first group consists of the "Long Live Egypt" dredger produced by the Damen Dutch company with a production capacity of 2,500 tons / hour, and the floating concentrate plant for extracting heavy economic metals concentrate from black sand with a production rate of 158 tons / hour.

The first group of factories is located along the international coastal road and the Mediterranean coast, at a distance of 12 km northwest of the separation factories complex, he said.