Sudan’s mining sector suffers $7 billion loss amid ongoing civil war

Sudan’s mining sector has incurred $7 billion in losses as the country’s 34-month-long war continues to disrupt operations, the national minerals authority reports.

Ahmed Haroun al-Tom, Director of the General Authority for Geological Research, said in a statement on Saturday that “the losses of the mining sector in Sudan due to the war amounted to about $7 billion.”

Sudan’s public and private sectors have been subjected to looting and sabotage due to the conflict, leading to the total or partial loss of infrastructure and losses ranging from millions to billions of dollars across various sectors, he said.

He revealed that the authority’s activities have shrunk from 18 states before the outbreak of the war to only 6 states currently, directly affecting research, exploration operations, and public revenues

He stated that the authority has begun importing modern technologies and advanced machinery to enhance its technical capabilities, following the resumption of its operations in the capital, Khartoum, rather than Port Sudan.

State institutions that moved to Port Sudan in eastern Sudan after the outbreak of the civil war have returned to resume their activities in Khartoum, including the Sovereign Council and the Council of Ministers.

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Al-Tom explained that before the civil war, the authority possessed “above-average” technologies in research and exploration, but these were lost due to the conflict.

The new technical package includes geophysical devices, remote sensing techniques, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in addition to specialized technologies in geo-engineering and geophysical studies.

He pointed out that the effects of the war were not limited to a decline in field activity but also extended to the disruption of evaluation and exploration programs, which negatively affected investment flows and revenues associated with the minerals sector.

Sudan ranks third in Africa and thirteenth globally in terms of the diversity and volume of mineral wealth. According to the Sudanese General Authority for Geological Research, about 75% of the country’s mineral resources still require detailed exploration and evaluation.

In December last year, the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company, the regulatory arm of the Ministry of Minerals, announced a surge in gold production, with total output reaching 70 tons, the highest in the previous five years.

Since April 2023, there has been a civil war in Sudan between two factions of the country's military government.

The conflict involves the internationally recognized government controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan Abdelrahman al-Burhan and consisting of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Republican Guard; and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo Musa, who leads the broader Janjaweed coalition.

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