The Egyptian Black Sand Company (EBSC) signed a contract with TAQA Petroleum Services Company to supply 1,300 cubic metres of gas per day to the black sand separation plant in Kafr Al-Sheikh. Major general Ashraf Soltan, chairperson of the EBSC, said that the company contracted with TAQA to provide the gas necessary to run the separation plant and establish an external pipeline. According to the feasibility study of the project, the total cost of gas delivery to the plant will reach EGP 19m. The project will be implemented over 8 to 12 months. Soltan said that EBSC also presented a request to the Ministry of Electricity to provide a power capacity of 9MW to operate the factory furnaces, dredges, and equipment. The price offer is set to be sent out in 10 days. The company is also in talks with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation to provide water to the plant. An agreement is expected to be reached by mid-May. The EBSC signed a usufruct agreement with the Kafr Al-Sheikh governorate for 50,000 feddans (51,890 acres) of land, designated for the establishment of a black sand separation plant for 20 years at a cost of $35m. The EBSC was founded in February 2013 with a capital of EGP 1bn. The board of directors includes a chairperson and eight members. The shareholders include five members of the National Service Products Organisation (NASPO) with a 61% share, as well as one member from the Nuclear Materials Authority of Egypt with a 15% share, one member from the National Investment Bank with 12%, one member from the Kafr Al-Sheikh governorate with 10%, and one member from the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority with 2%. The extraction of economic minerals from the black sand in Borollos is a major project with huge expected revenues. Sand is pulled up and processed to extract six minerals: ilmenite, magnetite, rutile, zircon, garnet, and monazite. These minerals are the basis for 100 types of basic, medium, and high technology industries, including ceramics, paints, high-quality water purification and treatment devices, advanced military industries, and transportation.
