Ariab (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
: أرياب) is a region of
Sudan, located in the
Nubian Desert
The Nubian Desert ( ar, صحراء النوبة, ''Şaḩrā’ an Nūbyah'') is in the eastern region of the Sahara Desert, spanning approximately 400,000 km2 of northeastern Sudan and northern Eritrea, between the Nile and the Red Sea. T ...
. It is inhabited by the
Beja people
The Beja people ( ar, البجا, Beja: Oobja, tig, በጃ) are an ethnic group native to the Eastern Desert, inhabiting a coastal area from southeastern Egypt through eastern Sudan and into northwestern Eritrea. They are descended from peopl ...
, and is home to the country's only commercial
gold mine Gold Mine may refer to:
* Gold Mine (board game)
*Gold Mine (Long Beach), an arena
*"Gold Mine", a song by Joyner Lucas from the 2020 album ''ADHD''
See also
* ''Gold'' (1974 film), based on the novel ''Gold Mine'' by Wilbur Smith
* Gold mining
*G ...
, run by French giant
Areva
Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Ato ...
. Gold mining has historically been crucially important for the desert region since Pharonic times.
The Canadian company LaMancha Resources (TSX:LMA) operates the Hassai open pit mine, and from May, 2011, plans to expand operations, once additional electrical and water resources are in place.
LaMancha website
/ref>
Wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet ( ephemeral) riverbed that contains water on ...
Ariab is oriented E-W. Gold mineralization is associated with a zone of massive sulphide mineralization in a marine rhyolite
Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained ( aphanitic) in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals ( phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The min ...
environment. According to Klemm and Klemm, the gold would have been "undetectable to ancient prospectors" due to its "extremely fine grain" nature. Furthermore, "no traces from ancient mining are known", and the 7 current opencast
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining ...
mines were discovered with modern geophysical prospecting methods.[{{cite book , last1=Klemm , first1=Rosemarie , last2=Klemm , first2=Dietrich , title=Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia , date=2013 , publisher=Springer , location=Heidelberg , isbn=9783642225079 , pages=382–383]
See also
*Arabian-Nubian Shield
The Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) is an exposure of Precambrian crystalline rocks on the flanks of the Red Sea. The crystalline rocks are mostly Neoproterozoic in age. Geographically - and from north to south - the ANS includes parts of Israel, Jor ...
*Mining industry of Sudan
The mining industry of Sudan is mostly driven by extraction fuel minerals, with petroleum accounting for a substantial contribution to the country's economy, until the autonomous region of Southern Sudan became an independent country in July 2011. ...
External links
Hassai Mine or Ariab Mine
References
Regions of Sudan
Geography of Sudan
Gold mining