A partial collapse of a gold mine left 13 dead and six injured in southern Sudan, the state-owned mining company said on Wednesday.
The collapse occurred last Friday in "five abandoned wells" from the Umm Fakroun mine, in the state of South Kordofan, said the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company (SMRC) in a press release.
Since the outbreak of the conflict between the army and the Rapid support forces paramilitary in April 2023, the war effort of both camps is largely financed by the Sudanese gold industry, in addition to foreign support.
"The wells had been abandoned and closed, but some miners broke in and were working there illegally", the statement said. The war devastated Sudan's already fragile economy and left much of the country jobless, but the SMRC announced production "at the highest level in five years", reaching 70 tonnes in 2025.
The authorities deplore, however, that a large part of the gold is smuggled across borders, notably via the Chad, the South Sudan and egypt, before reaching them United Arab Emirates, second largest exporter of gold in the world.
Of the 70 tonnes produced last year, alone "20 tonnes were exported through official channels", Finance Minister close to the army Gibril Ibrahim told AFP this month.
Africa's third largest country, Sudan is among the continent's main gold producers, but artisanal and small-scale mining —such as in Umm Fakroun — accounts for the majority of production.
These mines lack adequate safety measures and use dangerous chemicals, often responsible for widespread disease in surrounding areas.
Before the war plunged 25 million Sudanese into acute food insecurity, artisanal gold panning employed more than two million people, according to industry figures.
The conflict has left tens of thousands dead and displaced around 11 million people.
