A UAE based firm has bought shares in a Canadian firm which is involved in exploration for gold in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Activists from Tigray have launched a campaign to stop the UAE company from exploration.
MITHRA Metals, a prominent private investment firm based in the UAE, has acquired 240,000 shares of ANS Exploration, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. ANS Exploration owns a 95 per cent stake in Altau resources, which in turn owns a 100 per cent interest in the Daro and Zager licenses, strategically located in the Arabian-Nubian Shield in Ethiopia. The Daro and Zager licenses encompass vast geological terrains with significant potential for copper and gold-bearing deposits.
This acquisition provides ANS Exploration and now Mithra Metals, with a strong presence within the Tigray Province of the country and adds to its exploration portfolio in the highly prospective Nubian Shield.
However exploration activities by Mithra Metals in Tigray could face opposition from locals as Tigray social media activists have launched a campaign to stop UAE firm from entering Tigray.
During the two year long in northern Ethiopia between Tigray regional forces and Ethiopian federal forces, UAE supported Ethiopian federal government militarily. UAE provided Wing Long drones and weapon systems to federal forces which helped federal forces a lot. Tigray People’s Liberation Front issued statements accusing the UAE and Turkey of massacring civilians of Tigray.
Ethiopian federal government and Tigray People’s Liberation Front reached Pretoria Peace Deal in November 2022. But the deal is still being implemented. Tigray region, devastated by war, is in need of grants, loans and investments to rebuild its destroyed infrastructure.
It would be interesting to see the response of Tigray regional government to Mithra Metals exploration work in Tigray? Will it allow the exploration for gold to continue or stop it?