MP: ‘Sudan bleeding gold to Egypt, Eritrea’
A large proportion of the gold produced by traditional mining methods in Sudan is reportedly being smuggled to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Eritrea because of poor prices offered by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS).
Traditional gold miners get their raw gold weighed at a gold shop in El Fasher in North Darfur (File photo)
A large proportion of the gold produced by traditional mining methods in Sudan is reportedly being smuggled to neighbouring countries such as Egypt or Eritrea because of poor prices offered by the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS).
Independent Sudanese MP Mubarak Abbas said that gold is being smuggled to Egypt and Eritrea, where it fetches higher prices than the SDG 70 ($1.50*) per a gram offered by the CBoS..
Ministries
The Ministry of Oil and Minerals has acknowledged the smuggling of gold because of the lack of a rewarding price for the producers, and alleges the existence of large stored quantities of gold.
On Wednesday, Minister of Petrol and Mining, Azhari Abdelgader, denied that he knew of smuggling gold, allegedly through concession companies.
The minister acknowledged that his ministry is not aware of the rate of production of gold, especially traditional mining, but pointed out that the traditional mining represents 85 per cent of the total gold production.
* Based on the daily US Dollar rate quoted by the Central Bank of Sudan.
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