Eleven killed in Sudan gold mine collapse as civil war rages | Sudan war News

Seven workers were injured in the collapse, which occurred in an area controlled by the Sudanese armed forces.

The partial collapse of a traditional gold mine in the northeast of Sudan killed 11 minors and injured seven others, according to the State Mining Company, as a brutal civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the rapid support forces (RSF) in the third year.

Since the war broke out in April 2023, the war chests of the two parties were largely funded by the Sudan gold industry.

In a statement published on Sunday, Sudanese Mineral Resources Company (SMRC) said that the collapse occurred in a “craft well in the Kirsh al-Fil mine” during the weekend in the distant desert zone of Howeid, located between cities relaxed by the SAF of Atbara and Haiya in northeast of Sudan.

Seven other workers were injured and transferred to the hospital, said SMRC.

The company added that it had previously suspended work in the mine and “warned of its continuous activity because of its great risk for life”.

According to official sources and NGOs, almost all gold trade is channeled by the United Arab Emirates, which was accused of armed the RSF. Water denies it.

War broke the already fragile economy of Sudan. The government supported by the army nevertheless announced a record production in gold of 64 tonnes in 2024.

The third country in Africa is one of the best gold producers on the continent, but artisanal extraction and small -scale gold expressions for the majority of extracted gold.

Unlike large industrial facilities, these mines lack safety measures and use dangerous chemicals that often cause generalized diseases in neighboring areas.

The mining collapses are also common. In recent years, similar incidents include a collapse of 2023 which killed 14 minors and another in 2021 which has cost the life of 38.

Before the war, which pushed 25 million people in disastrous food insecurity, the craft mines employed more than two million people, according to sources and experts from the mining industry.

Today, according to these sources, a large part of the gold produced by both parties is introduced as a smuggling in Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, before reaching the water, the second largest gold exporter in the world.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in Sudan, where more than 13 million people are currently inappropriate in the largest travel crisis in the world.

More than four million have Food on borders.

Currently, the SAF dominates the north and east of the country – including the smallest state by region, but the most populous, Khartoum – as well as certain central areas. The RSF, on the other hand, holds most of the western Sudan, including most of the Darfur.