750,000 Sudanese search for Gold everyday
Much of Sudan's gold output comes from artisanal searchers as some 750,000 ordinary Sudanese search for gold at 106 sites across the African country.
750,000 Sudnaese search for gold in desert as a way of making their every day's life, according to country's mines ministry.
The Ministry said much of Sudan's gold output comes from artisanal searchers as some 750,000 ordinary Sudanese search for gold at 106 sites across the African country.
Mining Minister Kamal Abdel-Latif said the country expects 20 more companies to start producing gold this year and will allocate more land for investors for mineral exploration.
Sudan has licensed almost 100 companies to search and produce gold as it seeks to boost output of minerals to gain new sources of state income and of foreign currency needed to fund imports.
The government will allocate six more blocks for investors to search for minerals, he said, naming areas north of the capital Khartoum and inSouth Kordofan, a strife-torn region near the border with South Sudan.
Gold has now become Sudan's biggest export product, partially replacing oil revenues which made up more than 50 percent of state income until 2011 when South Sudan took away most oil reserves with its independence.
A total of 20 firms would start producing gold in 2013 after completing exploration studies. Now, only 13 firms have reached the production stage.
The government eyes a gold output of around 50 tonnes in 2013, worth around $2.5 billion, which would potentially make it Africa's third largest gold miner behind South Africa and Ghana, and push it into the top 15 producers globally.
Sudan's gold production is expected to be flat compared with last year's 50 tonnes but without the latest push, it would drop because its main mine Ariab Mining Co, a joint venture of Canada's La Mancha Resources and the government, is expecting a fall in output as it has exhausted reserves near the surface. It is now undertaking investments to tap deeper reservoirs which will take time to pay off.
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