The partial collapse of a traditional gold mine in Sudan’s northeast has killed 11 miners and wounded seven others, according to the state mining company, as a brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is in its third year.
Since the war erupted in April 2023, both sides’ war chests have been largely funded by Sudan’s gold industry.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company (SMRC) said that the collapse occurred in an “artisanal shaft in the Kirsh al-Fil mine” over the weekend in the remote desert area of Howeid, located between the SAF-controlled cities of Atbara and Haiya in Sudan’s northeastern Red Sea state.
Another seven workers were injured and transferred to a hospital, the SMRC said.
The company added that it had previously suspended work in the mine and “warned against its continuing activity due to its posing great risk to life”.
According to official and NGO sources, nearly all of the gold trade is funnelled through the United Arab Emirates, which has been accused of arming the RSF. The UAE denies it does so.
The war has shattered Sudan’s already fragile economy. The army-backed government, nevertheless, announced record gold production of 64 tonnes in 2024.
Africa’s third-largest country is one of the continent’s top gold producers, but artisanal and small-scale gold mining accounts for the majority of gold extracted.
In contrast to larger industrial facilities, these mines lack safety measures and use hazardous chemicals that often cause widespread diseases in nearby areas.
Mining collapses are also common. Similar incidents in recent years include a 2023 collapse that killed 14 miners and another in 2021 that claimed 38 lives.
Before the war, which has pushed 25 million people into dire food insecurity, artisanal mining employed more than two million people, according to mining industry sources and experts.
Today, according to those sources, much of the gold produced by both sides is smuggled to Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, before reaching the UAE, the world’s second-largest gold exporter.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan, where more than 13 million people are currently displaced in the world’s largest displacement crisis.
More than four million have fled across borders.
Currently, the SAF dominates the north and east of the country – including the smallest state by area, but most populous, Khartoum – along with some central areas. The RSF, meanwhile, holds most of western Sudan, including most of Darfur.
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