CAIRO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Centamin Plc CEY.L , which runs Egypt's only commercial gold mine, said it would not bid in the country's new gold exploration round because the terms are not commercially viable.
Egypt began last week accepting bids for five concession areas in its first bid round for new gold exploration since 2009. The deadline for bids is April 20.
Centamin which last year produced 551,036 ounces from its Egyptian Sukari mine said the terms were less attractive than previous rounds. Egypt contains many areas that are highly prospective for gold, Centamin will not bid for further ground under the latest terms proposed by EMRA in the 2017 bid round," Centamin chairman Josef El-Raghy told Reuters.