Sudan has signed nine concession agreements for gold and copper mining. Minister of Minerals Mohamed Bashir Abdalla confirmed the report and said that all the agreements are related to gold mining except one for copper.
Four of nine concession signed with local companies while the other five concessions signed with the companies from Iraq, China, South Africa and Armenia. Amongst them Armenian company was the winner of the only copper concession. Including four local companies
All concession areas are located in the Red Sea State, the West Kordofan state and the Northern State. Sudan sold 13,327,657 grammes of gold worth US $438million from 2015 to 2020, Abdalla said on Thursday, compared with 2,752,889 grammes worth US $141million from June 2020 to February 2021.
Establishment of stock exchanges for minerals
Gold sales from March to May reached US $36million the minister said during the concession agreements ceremony. Sudan took steps last year to open up trade in the precious metal further to private investors, allowing them to handle all exports and taking the business out of state hands.
Sudan has been cracking down on gold smuggling to generate more foreign currency. For years, the central bank had a monopoly on exports, buying gold locally at fixed prices at collection sites nationwide, which led to the illegal trade. The country also had approved the establishment of stock exchanges for gold, minerals and agricultural commodities.
