Production at the Zara project, run by Australia's Sub-Sahara Resources, and the Asmara belt, headed by Canada's Sunridge .should start soon after Bisha, he added.
By Andrew Cawthorne and Jack Kimball
ASMARA, May 16 (Reuters) - Eritrea will decide this year on five more applications for mining exploration licences from companies in South Africa, Canada and China, the energy and mines minister said on Friday."The interest is very good, from many quarters," Tesfai Ghebreselassie told Reuters of the gold-rich Horn of African nation's fledgling minerals' industry.
The country's most advanced project, run by Canada's Nevsun Resources Ltd .should start producing by the end of 2009, the minister said. Nevsun expects its Bisha project to produce around 1 million ounces of gold, 750 million pounds of copper, and 1.1 billion pounds of zinc over a 10-year life.
"We want the first contract with Nevsun to be a model. Both parties have to be comfortable," he said. "LAW-ABIDING"
Production at the Zara project, run by Australia's Sub-Sahara Resources, and the Asmara belt, headed by Canada's Sunridge .should start soon after Bisha, he added.
Zara is mainly a gold deposit, while the Asmara area has metals like zinc and copper, as well as some gold.
"There are very exciting discoveries made so far," Tesfai said.
Investors should not worry about political risk in Eritrea given the legal resolution -- or "virtual demarcation" -- of its border dispute with Ethiopia, and the government's commitment to equitable partnership with foreign firms, he said.
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