Minister of Minerals: $4b Initially Estimated Losses
Port Sudan – almohagig
Minister of Minerals, Muhammad Bashir Abdullah, confirmed that the ministry contributed to more than 60% of the country’s total exports for the first quarter of this year.
Speaking during a special interview program on Radio Biladi, he revealed that revenues from gold and other metal exports exceeded $600 million from the beginning of this year until mid-May.
The minister pointed out that the 60% percentage is considered an unrealistic percentage were it not for the current circumstance, considering that most of the country’s exports were halted as a result of the war.
He said that his ministry quickly absorbed the shock and prepared for work. It transferred the ministry’s headquarters and its subsidiaries to the city of Port Sudan early, and contacts were made with producers and investors in this field to urge them to return and begin production.
He pointed out that his ministry urged a group of waste factory owners who went to Egypt to return to resume their activities, especially since the production areas in the gold-producing states were all safe and outside of the conflict, which are the states of the Nile, the Northern, the Red Sea, Kassala, Gedaref, and to some extent the Blue Nile.
He explained that the total production of gold from the beginning of the year 2024 until the middle of this May reached 17 tons, with an increase of 190% of the total production for the first quarter of the year 2023.
The Minister of Minerals, Muhammad Bashir Abdullah, explained that the war had a negative impact on the Ministry of Minerals, as it lost its headquarters in Khartoum and all the western states were out of service (Kordofan and Darfur), with an almost complete loss of fixed and mobile assets and technical information inherited from 1905 AD until the outbreak of the war.
He revealed that the Ministry has lost revenues from these states and needs efforts and funds to rebuild the headquarters, obtain mobiles, and recover part of the information. The total initial cost is estimated at about 4 billion dollars, and the largest and most important part of the information that was burned is the central library (the library of the General Authority for Geological Research) it is difficult to recover.
The Minister of Minerals expected gold production to exceed 55 tons by the end of this year. After efforts to combat gold production outside legal frameworks by activating regulations and laws and forming a joint committee from all relevant parties, security and civil, to fight negative phenomena that harm the mining process in the country, such as the operation of random mixers and basins.
He explained that the rumors about moving the gold refinery to Qatar are not true and there is no such step at all.
Likewise, what was reported about an agreement to establish a refinery in one of the sister countries is not true.
Announcing his approval to establish a gold refinery as a (national project) using the latest technology in this field, arrangements are now being made to urge the certifying authorities to receive the land to complete the civil equipment to construct the refinery buildings in preparation for their installation soon.
