In a vast pit of red earth, white stone and green ponds, excavators unearth precious copper in Eritrea’s first large scale commercial mine.
In its third year of production, Bisha mine — endowed with gold, copper and zinc — is Eritrea’s first major international investment, and one that promises enormous profit for the impoverished Red Sea state.
Despite criticism by rights groups — who say large scale mining props up a hardline regime accused of a raft of abuses — authorities hope the mine will draw investment in other industries to help boost Eritrea’s otherwise struggling economy.
“The miners are the first people to take big risks with big money,” said Alasdair Smith, a geologist and exploration expert in Eritrea.
“There will be a honeymoon period for the mining industry when they will lead the way and they will have a significant contribution to GDP, and then that will quickly get overtaken by other industries,” added Smith, from New Zealand.
Bisha mine is 60 per cent owned by Canada’s Nevsun Resources and 40 per cent owned by the Eritrean government, which took a loan from China to finance its initial investment.
The project has attracted major interest from foreign mining companies, with three companies — from Australia, Canada and China — planning on establishing operations for gold and potash in the next two years.
Read more at South China Morning Post.
