Sudan’s gold output spikes amid civil war as new mining deals signed

Sudan’s gold industry rebounded last year as the government took steps to bolster revenue amid a civil war, including signing mining deals with companies from China, Russia and Qatar.

The North African nation produced 65 tons of bullion in 2024, generating some $1.6 billion in government revenue, data from the state-run Sudanese Mineral Resources Company show. That compares with 34.5 tons and $2.02 billion in 2022, before the war erupted, with the recent revenue gains partly reflective of a gold price surge. The reliability of the data collected since then is questionable, although the industry initially took a severe hit.

The government has lowered taxes and fees imposed on artisinal miners and many of them entered the formal market, bolstering official production figures, according to Sadiq Al-Hajj, the head of SMRC’s planning and data department. There was also a clampdown on smuggling.

“Artisanal mining reached 53 tons, while the concession companies, including foreign and local concerns, have produced around 12 tons of gold in 2024,” Al-Hajj said.

Fighting erupted in Sudan in April 2023, with the army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group vying for control. At least 150,000 people have been killed and more than 12 million others have been forced to flee their homes.

Sudan has signed an agreement with Qatar to establish a new gold refinery in the Gulf state, Al-Hajj said, a development that would reduce Sudan’s reliance on the United Arab Emirates to process its gold. The army accuses the UAE of backing the RSF, an allegation that’s been denied.

Alliance for Mining Co. and Kush for Exploration and Production restarted operations during the course of the war in Sudan’s Red Sea state, which is controlled by the army, exporting more than a ton of gold last year. The two companies are subsidiaries of the UAE-based Emiral Resources Ltd., an Emirati company founded by a former Russian diplomat and Gazprom PJSC executive.

The fighting shows no sign of abating.

Over the weekend, a group of Sudanese political parties and armed groups aligned with the RSF signed the founding charter of a new government, a move that increases the chances of a Libya-style split of the country. The late inclusion of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, a powerful armed group led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, gave the coalition an important boost.

It remains undecided where the new administration will be based or who will take ministerial positions.

Last week, RSF soldiers attacked people in villages around the eastern town of al-Gitaina, killing more than 200 civilians, including women and children, according to Emergency Lawyers, a Sudanese monitoring group.

“Those who tried to escape fled by crossing the Nile. They were chased and targeted, which led to some people drowning,” the group said in a statement last week.

The Sudan Doctors Network documented the execution of at least 23 people and said many more had drowned.

(By Mohammed Alamin and Simon Marks)