The excavations revealed a gold processing complex dating back 3,000 years, SCA Secretary General Mohamed Ismail Khaled said in a statement.

The official specified that the facility had grinding and crushing stations, filtration and sedimentation basins, as well as ancient clay furnaces used to melt the gold extracted from quartz veins.

Archaeologists also discovered a residential district that was inhabited by miners.

The latter area included remains of dwellings, workshops, temples, administrative buildings and baths dating from the Ptolemaic era (323 B.C.E.-30 B.C.E.), the text noted.

Architectural remains from the Roman and Islamic periods were also found, underscoring the historical importance of the site, it added.

During the work, 628 fragments of pottery inscribed with hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek texts were detected, as well as a collection of bronze coins from the Ptolemaic period.

‘This is a significant discovery because it expands our understanding of ancient Egyptian mining techniques,’ Khaled said.

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