CAIRO: An Egyptian company offered U.S. $12 million to buy a small company working in gold exploration in Ethiopia to extend its activities to abroad. The Ethiopian company has three licenses to explore for gold and major minerals in north Ethiopia. The chairman of the Egyptian Centamin Misr Company, Joseph al-Raghi, clarified seizing the Ethiopian company will pave the way for investment in Ethiopia, which is a promising country. Centamin's offer has 124 percent of the premium closing price of the company's shares on Friday. The Ethiopian company considered the offer as fair assessment and assures it will struggle to provide the required increase in expenditures to fully develop the activities of the company.