Egypt signs deal with Spain’s Xcalibur for 1st aerial mineral survey in 42 years
Xcalibur is a Madrid-based global leader in multi-source geographical data collection, integration, and analysis through its smart country mapping solutions. The firm operates the world’s largest airborne geophysics fleet and sensing systems.
The aerial survey, which will be carried out by Xcalibur’s aircraft, will provide an accurate database for possible mining locations and mineral resources over six areas in Egypt. These areas include the southern and northern parts of the Eastern Desert, Sinai, the northern and eastern parts of the Western Desert, as well as the Bahariya Oasis and Abu Tartur in the New Valley governorate.
The firm provides data on storage of critical minerals, water, hydrogen, geothermal potential, land use, biodiversity characterization, geological risks, hydrocarbons, and carbon capture and storage.
This project is also carried out in cooperation with the Egyptian Nuclear Materials Authority (NMA), which provides technical and scientific expertise.
Egyptian end-to-end aerial solutions firm DroneTech will also participate in the project to maximize the utilization of national assets and capabilities.
The petroleum ministry had launched a digital mining portal earlier this year that provides investors with geological data and information on current and possible mining areas.
Furthermore, the survey will help attract foreign direct investment in mineral exploration. The data provided by the survey will help reduce costs and risks, improving confidence in Egypt’s mining sector.
Mining constitutes one of the five priority sectors in Egypt’s economic plan, which aims to raise the country's GDP growth rate to seven percent by 2030.
Egypt's real GDP growth slowed to 5 percent in the first quarter of 2026 and is expected to moderate further in the second quarter (Q2) of 2026.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian government has been reviewing mining policies to regulate the sector more effectively, amend legislation, expedite exploration risk-reducing measures, and transition from discovery to production.
The government is also planning on offering larger and more suitable mining areas to improve project feasibility. It also intends to encourage financial institutions to provide financing for investors.
Meanwhile, Egypt continues to boost domestic production by increasing exploration activities to bridge the gap between supply and demand, improve the country's position as a regional minerals trading hub, and raise its mining exports to $10 billion by 2040, up from $1.6 billion in 2021.
In July 2025, Egypt exported 1.4 million tons of ores and mineral products, excluding phosphate ore, at a value of $52.5 million. Ore and mineral production increased by 39 percent compared to the year before, reaching 26 million tons of ores and mineral products.