Sudan says foreign groups seek a ban on gold exports

June 1, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese minister of minerals Ahmed Sadiq al-Karuri warned that some unnamed foreign organizations are actively compiling negative reports on the mining sector in Sudan especially gold as a prelude to a ban the country’s exports of this precious metal.

Sudan is trying to compensate for the loss in oil which constituted more than 50% of its revenues until 2011 South Sudan seceded and took with it 75% of the country’s oil reserves.

The East African nation now ranks third in Africa in terms of gold production after South Africa and Ghana and aspires to reach the top spot by 2018.

Last March, a US-based think-tank group urged Washington to impose sanctions on gold produced in Sudan’s conflict zones.

“After studying this regime for 25 years, it is my conclusion that the Khartoum government is most vulnerable to targeted, focused, relentless economic and financial pressure. Therein lies the greatest opportunity for American leverage to be deployed in support of peace and human rights in Sudan,” John Prendergast, the co-founder of the Enough Project, said in prepared remarks before US congress.

Prendergast urged the US congress to introduce a resolution that would “call on banks and gold refiners to red-flag Sudanese gold as high risk, and for gold industry associations to include Sudan as a high-risk country in their conflict-free audits, in order to ascertain what gold exports from Sudan are conflict-affected”.

At a speech before his ministry on Monday, al-Karuri stressed that they will continue the process of regulating traditional mining operations in order to reduce the use of mercury.

He denied that the primary goal of regulation is to collect revenues and announced that the ministry has achieved 75% of the traditional mining reform plan.

More than 1 million Sudanese work in the traditional mining sector which produces the largest chunk of the country’s gold but it is still difficult to obtain credible data.

Sudan said last March, that it produced 17 tonnes of gold during the months of January and February, and that it expects to boost production during 2015 to 80 tons and 100 tons in 2016.

The revenues from gold exports totaled more than $1 billion in 2014 according to a report previously released by the ministry of minerals.

(ST)