Ethiopia's National Mining Corp. (NMiC) has found gold reserves of more than 568,000 kilograms in the African country's Oromia and Tigray regional states.

The two regions reportedly hold the country's largest gold reserves, according to geological data from Ethiopia's Ministry of Mines.

Once it starts exploiting and producing the precious metal found in Dawa, Oromia, and Werri, Tigray, NMIC could transform to become Ethiopia's largest goldmine producer, the government said last week. Combined, the two areas can yield 6,000 kg of gold.

The government could collect a total of $17.6 billion in corporate tax and royalties during the 29-year concession period from the two sites, according to feasibility studies conducted by Venmyn, a South African firm.

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) report said NMIC may already start producing 80,706 kg of gold from the Dawa area, estimated to contain 550,000 kg worth of gold reserves that is good for 20 years.

NMiC plan to start delivering gold in three years from the Dawa area, with total revenue of $4 billion expected within 20 years, according to the PEA report, plus $84.8 million dollars from gold and silver mined at the Werri area within nine years.

In the Werri area, NMiC discovered a total of 1.9 million kg of silver, plus 50.4 million kg and 42.4 million kg of lead and zinc base metals, respectively.

NMIC will promote a public tender to locate a firm that will conduct an environmental impact assessment on the project areas before exploration works begin. The Ethiopian gold producer will have to invest $326.4 million for the projects, where Dawa will receive a $121.5 million allocation.