Sudan activist warns of ‘dire consequences’ of toxic gold extraction

A worker pans for gold in a pool containing mercury in Sudan (File photo: Leyland Cecco)

A workshop held by Sudan’s Ministry of Minerals and the Sudanese Company for Mineral Materials earlier this week in Port Sudan, ignored environmental studies that ensure health and safety, pointing to the use of mercury and cyanide, activist Ahmed Mokhtar, head of the National Committee for Environmental Advocacy, has told Radio Dabanga.

Mokhtar warns of “the dire consequences of gold production without taking into account environmental requirements, stressing the need to employ gold revenues in development”.

He pointed out that the communities within mining areas are not involved in the workshops, indicating that “the aim of the workshop is to research on how to obtain financial returns from mining, regardless of the damages, without taking into account that future generations will receive their share of gold at the expense of the environment”.

He criticised the ministry and the company for dealing with gold in an “unscientific and unguided manner without taking into account the catastrophic effects, without caring about the negative effects on the public, and without studying the effects on people production areas from increasing gold production.

Social responsibility

Adroob El Hassan, Chairman of the Preliminary Committee of the Union of Minerals of Red Sea state, welcomed directives regarding the review of mining certifications and the review of the disbursement of social responsibility funds.

He said that the method of certification of mining companies is vague, calling for the start of certification procedures from mining areas through a conflict-free procedure to avoid any conflicts with the public, or interethnic conflicts.

He stressed the need to review aspics of the disbursement of the social responsibility funds received from companies.

Gold

Sudan is reportedly the second-largest producer of gold in Africa and the ninth in the world. Gold mines are scattered across Sudan, including Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile. Artisanal mining has also drawn hundreds of thousands of gold seekers to the deserts of Sudan’s northern and eastern states.

The total gold production of Sudan in 2020 reached 36.6 tons. The revenues amounted to SDG 22.5 billion, of which SDG 16.6 billion was deposited at the Ministry of Finance.

As the production was driven by unregulated, artisanal (individual subsistence) mining, the transitional government began to regulate the mining and export of the precious metal two years ago.

In October 2019, the government officially took over control the Jebel Amer gold mines in North Darfur. In March this year, the government established state control over gold exports. It was also decided to establish a Sudanese gold exchange.

Toxic

Traditional gold mining is carried out by excavating the gold-bearing soil that. The soil is then treated with mercury and cyanide to extract the gold. The highly toxic waste is often poured directly into valleys and streams, leading to heavy pollution.

Protests against traditional gold mining have increased in recent years in several states in the country, especially South Kordofan, North Kordofan, North Darfur, and Northern State. In South Kordofan, at least 10 gold mining plants in have been closed by activists during the past few years. In October 2019, the government prohibited the use of mercury and cyanide in gold mining.