Project to explore lead, zinc, gold in Wadi Araba’s Samrat Teibah launched

AMMAN — Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Saleh Kharabsheh on Saturday launched a project to explore lead, zinc and gold in the Samrat Teibah area in Wadi Araba.

Kharabsheh said that the project is being carried out by the ministry personnel as part of a national mining project launched by the ministry in early 2021 to explore mineral wealth in areas located within the Nubian Arabian Shield, an area that is rich in minerals, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He added that the project is part of a series of projects launched by the ministry under memoranda of understanding, under which companies carry out the necessary feasibility studies.

Kharabsheh referred to previous studies carried out by the ministry in cooperation with the French Geological Survey Authority on the Samrat Teibah project, which showed preliminary indications of the existence of elements such as zinc, lead and gold.

Director of Studies at the Ministry of Energy Hisham Al Zyoud said that the area was divided into 16 sedimentary basins spanning through the canyons. 

Zyoud added that work is now under way within the first and second basins, where 76 specimens distributed on the ends of the valleys were collected from heavy concentrated samples, samples of rock sections and the ends of the sediments of the canyons.

He added that seven holes have been dug within the exploration area so far, which have shown positive results, noting that work would be completed to drill a series of wells.

The director pointed out that the area targeted in geochemical surveys in Samrat Teibah is an extension of the Abu Khsheibah areas in the eastern part of Wadi Araba.