Emirates Lakes: UAE looted Yemen gold

The UAE does not only control most economic centers in Yemen, such as airports, ports, and oil and gas production and export facilities, rather, it extends to gold mining sites and mines in Hadramawt (southeast) and other areas in the south of the country.

While the fate of 16 gold exploration and mining sites remains mysterious in Yemen, local sources confirmed to the newspaper, “Al Arabi Al Jadeed” issued from London, that Emirati companies smuggled large quantities of stones, during the recent period, from the “Hajar” Directorate in the coast of Hadramout via Its own port between Al Rayyan and Dabbah to Abu Dhabi.

According to the sources, who declined to be named, these stones are huge amounts of gold that are extracted from private mines in the region dominated by Emirati and local companies linked to them.

Observers considered this as looting of gold mines in various regions of Hadramout governorate, a large part of which is under the control of the Emirati forces or local forces that formed and run them, known as the Hadrami Elite.

This is how the image of a country tarnished by war, flooded with chaos, absurdity, foreign interference, and war merchants of every variety and color appears to be wreaking the abilities and wealth of a country that appears torn and destroyed after five years of armed conflict, and whose end is not looming on the horizon.

This poor country whose people suffer from worsening living crises, is rich in oil, gas, agricultural, fish and most important mineral resources, which are only a few miles away from the surface of the earth, but they are thousands of miles away from the state’s interest in Yemen for decades, with more than 17 million people From about 30 million under poverty, unemployment and barefoot feet on a land of gold.

The mineral wealth and extractive industries sector is considered one of the most promising sectors in Yemen, as government geological studies show the availability of many different minerals and natural ores, most of which are still buried in the ground, and have not been exploited for high production costs and low returns in the locations of these ores, in addition to the chaos which the country suffers.

Recent official studies and exploration studies estimate the reserve of this precious crude at 100 million tons spread in 24 exploration sites. This is in contrast to what the Geological Survey and Mineral Resources Authority announced in 2013 that gold reserves amount to about 31.6 million tons.

According to the results of mineral exploration, more than 80% of the area of ​​Yemen is found under sedimentary rocks formed in a variety of geological environments, which would lead to the possibility of forming large and colossal deposits of deposits, industrial minerals and mineral wealth.

In this regard, the former head of the Geological Survey and Mineral Resources Authority in Yemen, Amer Al-Sabri, says that there are many factors that make Yemen one of the most important countries producing industrial minerals, most notably the great geological diversity in the rock units, which led to the availability of a large stock of resources Mineral with international specifications.

Al-Sabri believes that there is a necessity for industrial conversion of minerals whose use is still more concentrated in simple craftsmanship, and is no more than artisanal mining activities.

Gold comes at the forefront of these promising economic fortunes, where, as Sabri explains, there are large proportions of about 20 grams of gold per ton of rock containing this ore, and high rates of presence in areas of Hajjah Governorate, north Yemen.

Studies and the results of research and exploration carried out by the Yemeni Geological Survey and Mineral Resources Authority indicate the presence of important minerals in Yemen, including gold, lead, zinc, copper and silver, in addition to the presence of minerals and industrial rocks in large quantities, as most of them are located in populated areas with the presence of the infrastructure that facilitates the investment and exploitation process.

A recent study conducted by the commission in the Wadi Hadramout valley estimates that the gold reserves in the valley amount to about 678 thousand tons, at a level of 15 grams of gold in each ton of rocks.

But the extractive and investment operations and the exploitation of these wealth take place in a framework of secrecy, according to the researcher and academic at the Center for Studies and Research in Geological Exploration, Tawfiq Salah, who said that “Emirati companies place their hand on the mineral sector in general in Yemen, and the sites of exploration and extraction of gold in particular, and in particular In the provinces and regions that have come under the control of the Yemeni government.”

The sites of Hadhramaut Governorate, according to Salah, are located in the foundation rocks of the “Braikambari” age that are intertwined with volcanic, sedimentary and intertwining “granite” rocks.

Gold reserves are spread in the regions of Sabreen, Al-Luz, Wadi Atf, Al-Jawf in the east, and areas in Sana’a and Saada in the north and Abyan in the south, in addition to estimating the gold reserves in Wadi Modan and Hajar in Hadramout, according to Salah.

The preliminary estimate with regard to Hajjah Governorate indicates that there is a reserve in the Al-Hariq region estimated at 39 million tons, with a content ranging between 1 and 1.65 grams of gold per ton of rock containing gold, indicating that these data are of great economic benefit.

However, local sources in the governorate located in the north of Yemen reported that locals flocked during the last period, due to the conflict, chaos and paralysis that Yemen is going through that strikes the official state institutions, to dig mines to extract gold indiscriminately, as they use chemicals that are harmful to the environment and precious materials in the mines. , Thus messing around and squandering.

The expert in the field of minerals, Qais Al-Wali, confirmed that there is a large reserve in the Al-Hariq area of ​​Hajjah, which is considered one of the poorest areas of Yemen, as it is considered an economic feasibility that stimulates exploitation.

According to the governor, the gold exploration process goes through two stages, the first is exploratory and the second is exploratory and takes a process Initial research is about 6 years, while the stage of mineral exploration takes place over a period of 5 to 15 years, while the development phase takes 3 years.