AngloGold Ashanti to resume Egypt exploration after March suspension

AngloGold Ashanti said in August 2026 that it expects to resume exploration at its Nugrus and Najd blocks in Egypt's Eastern Desert in the third quarter of the year, after suspending work in March following what the company described only as an undisclosed incident. The blocks surround the company's flagship Sukari gold mine, which it gained through its $2.5 billion acquisition of Centamin in 2024, and produced 232,000 ounces of gold in the first half of 2026, keeping it on track for a full-year target of 500,000 ounces.

A priority target nearby

Among the assets awaiting renewed drilling is Little Sukari, a target about 27km east of the main Sukari pit that AngloGold has flagged as a priority because its geology closely resembles the main deposit. A discovery there could supply low-cost ore to Sukari's existing processing plant, potentially saving the company hundreds of millions of dollars that would otherwise be needed to build new infrastructure elsewhere. Before the suspension, AngloGold had completed desktop studies and technical field reviews across several other regional targets in the Eastern Desert.

Why it matters

Egypt has been actively courting exploration investment in the Eastern Desert through a new open-licensing system designed to attract more foreign miners beyond the handful of majors already active there, with junior explorer Capital Limited separately pursuing nine gold blocks in the same region. A resumption of AngloGold's programme, one of the largest exploration efforts in the country, would be a signal that the unexplained March incident has been resolved without lasting damage to the company's appetite for Egyptian exploration.

What happens next

The immediate marker to watch is whether drilling actually restarts at Nugrus and Najd in the third quarter as guided. Beyond that, progress at Little Sukari specifically will determine whether AngloGold can add a genuinely low-cost satellite ore source to Sukari's mine plan, extending the economics of an already long-lived operation.

Sources

• Enterprise: AngloGold Ashanti plans to resume exploration at Nugrus and Najd blocks after March suspension, 06 Aug 2026
• Egypt Oil & Gas: Sukari Mine Hits 232,000 oz Gold Output in H1, On Track for 2026 Target, 20 Jul 2026

Photo: Egypt's Eastern Desert, home to AngloGold Ashanti's Sukari-area exploration blocks. Leon petrosyan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.