Wadi el-Sid was the chief mining area for the New Kingdom of Egypt, with high gold grades of 30 grams per ton (g/t) in the mineralized quartz veins within sheared ophiolite sequences of serpentinite and metabasalt, imbricated with Hammamat sediments, in direct contact with the tonalite margins of the Fawakhir granite pluton. The ophiolite nappe dates from 850 to 770 Ma, while the Fawakhir pluton dates from 574 ma. These gold-rich veins are oriented according to post-tectonic extension, something the Egyptian prospectors understood.