A court in the Red Sea city of Hurghada has ordered Centamin-Egypt – an Australia-based company that runs Egypt's Sukari gold mine – to reinstate seven workers sacked last year, state-run news agency MENA reported on Tuesday.

The Sukari mine, located in the Red Sea city of Marsa Alam, experienced a wave of labour unrest in 2012, with workers demanding better pay and working conditions. The company responded to the unrest by dismissing 12 workers.

The court also ruled that the company must pay each of the sacked workers LE50,000 in compensation.

"As we respect judges' rulings, the company will take the proper steps to implement them," MENA quoted a Sukari spokesman as saying.

Sukari is operated by Centamin-Egypt, a joint venture between the Egyptian government and Australian gold-mining company Centamin.

In March, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court suspended a verdict delivered last year that abrogated the contract between the government and the global gold producer.

In October 2012, Centamin had been ordered to halt its Egypt operations due to alleged irregularities regarding the way the company had renewed its contract to run the Sukari mine.