“The black wealth of Egypt” … rich sands, equivalent to a third of the income of the Suez Canal.

The Information and Decision Support Center of the Egyptian Council of Ministers said today, Tuesday, that Egypt is one of the richest Arab countries in the black sands.

The center said that black sands stretched along the northern coast of Egypt, starting from the city of Rashid to Rafah, with a length of 400 km. Egypt also has 11 black sand sites that contain 8 types of heavy metals.

The Clearinghouse said that the expected return to Egypt from one of these sites is more than £255 million annually, and the geological reserves of black sand in Egypt are estimated at about 1.3 billion cubic meters, distributed over four main areas in the governorates of Beheira, Damietta , Kafr El Sheikh and North Sinai.

This was published today by the Information Center under the heading “Black Sands…National Treasure that Rediscovers Egypt”), which talked about the definition of black sands, their economic significance and the historical development of black sands. investment in the sands in Egypt, while highlighting the figures and facts related to the wealth of the Egyptian sands, black women, their location, and the government’s efforts to make the most of them.

The report refers to the plurality of definitions relating to the concept of “black sand”, which together agree that it is a type of sandy deposits formed from previous geological times as a result of the transfer of clastic deposits from rocks. and plateaus, which were carried by river waters on the way to the estuarine region on the northern coast. For the Arab Republic of Egypt, this type of sand is characterized by the fact that it contains many minerals of economic and strategic importance. named by this name due to the predominance of its black color because it contains the minerals “magnetite” and “ilmenite” which are the two largest components of this type of sand. The sand is also called Black Sand is known as radioactive sand because it contains some radioactive minerals such as “monazite” and “zircon”.

The report indicated that there is a difference in the concentration of heavy metals in black sands. There is a dark type with a heavy metal content of 70% to 90%, as well as a gray type with a heavy metal content of no more than 40%. of these, the black sand of volcanic minerals, which is distributed – globally – off the coasts of volcanic islands, primarily; Hawaii, Canary Islands and Aleutian Islands.

These types of black sand also include a group of rocks and minerals in the first place; Basalt rocks, andesite and volcanic glass are black in color and these sands are heavier than regular, light-colored sand and are more likely to absorb the heat of sunlight due to the high content of “iron oxides” in their components, especially the “black iron oxide” coating outer surface of most metals.

At the level of Egypt, the Center for Information and Decision Support indicated that the black sands in it were formed as a result of the transport of detrital sediments by the waters of the Nile River from rocks and plateaus in eastern and central Africa – where the Nile River originates – in the region of the mouth off the northern coast of Egypt. As the water sheds its load of these sediments due to the cessation of the flow of river water when it meets the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

The report mentions the economic importance of black sand, the most notable of which is the use of strategic minerals contained in black sand in many industries such as “zircon, monazite, magnetite, rutile, ilmenite and garnet”. in this context, a number of prominent sectors of the economy can be listed, including black sand, which is “the production of aircraft structures, automobiles, missiles, submarines, spacecraft, prostheses, the production of oil pipelines, nuclear radiation materials, armored vehicles and military equipment. , railway tracks, the production of ceramics and tiles, grinding materials, high-tech floors, as well as the production of crystal and glass, sports equipment and cosmetics.

The black sand mining plant was opened in Rosetta, Buhaira Governorate, covering an area of ​​40 acres, and its dredging area is about 9 km. The first phase of the black sand mining plants was completed in July 2019.

It is anticipated that project revenues are expected to reach the equivalent of a third of the Suez Canal revenues due to its contribution to the export sector, in addition to job creation, and it is likely that the plant’s production capacity, upon completion of its completion in the following stages, will reach capacity. about 150 thousand tons of minerals per year.

Source: Al-Shoruk