Sudan gold revenue reaches $903m in three months

June 1, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s gold revenue has reached over 900 million dollars in the first quarter of this year, said the Minister of Minerals Ahmed Mohamed Sadiq al-Karouri on Tuesday.

Speaking before the Sudanese parliament, al-Karouri, told the lawmakers that gold production in the first quarter of the current year reached 22.3 tonnes which generated some 903.13 million dollars.

Sudan plans to produce 100 tonnes of the precious metal during this year.

Near 70% of the country’s gold production in 2015 was produced in the River Nile State. The traditional mining represents 90% of gold production in Sudan.

Al-Karuri further said that his ministry has fully met its financial obligations to the ministry of finance for the first quarter of 2016.

The minister pointed to the ongoing efforts to Sudanize the determination of gold content process and announced the completion of the design of gold laboratory services project.

The minister also said they regularized the situations of 28 companies working in the gold mining industry. He added they started to cancel the concession given to the small mining companies that failed to begin exploration activities within the agreed period.

Last April the ministry of minerals said that the country’s production of gold has risen by 3 percent compared to 2015, according to the first quarter of 2016 report.

(ST)