Sudan gold mine collapse kills 13 miners

A partial collapse of a gold mine has killed 13 miners and wounded six others in southern Sudan, the state mining company said on Wednesday.

The collapse occurred in “five abandoned shafts” of the Umm Fakroun mine in South Kordofan state last Friday, the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company (SMRC) said in a statement.

Miners working illegally

Since conflict erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, both sides’ war efforts have been largely funded by Sudan’s gold industry, in addition to foreign backers.

“The shafts had been abandoned and shut down, but some miners snuck in and were working illegally,” the statement said.

The war has devastated Sudan’s already fragile economy and left much of the country out of work, yet SMRC announced a “five-year high” in production of 70 tons in 2025.

But officials lament that much of the gold is smuggled across borders including through Chad, South Sudan and Egypt before reaching the United Arab Emirates, the world’s second-largest gold exporter.

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Of last year’s 70 tons, only “20 tons have been exported through official channels”, army-aligned Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim told AFP this month.

Lack of proper safety measures

Africa’s third-largest country is one of the continent’s top gold producers, but artisanal and small-scale gold mining, like Umm Fakroun, accounts for the majority of gold extracted.

These mines lack proper safety measures and use hazardous chemicals that often cause widespread diseases in nearby areas.

Before the war pushed 25 million Sudanese into acute food insecurity, artisanal mining employed more than two million people, according to industry figures.

The war has left tens of thousands killed and around 11 million displaced.

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