By: Reuters
KHARTOUM – Moroccan mining firm Manajim expects annual gold production of 12 t at a mine in Sudan it launched on Thursday, Sudanese state news agency Suna said.
Sudan has licensed more than 85 companies to search and produce gold as it seeks to boost output of minerals to gain new sources of state income and of foreign currency needed to fund imports.
Oil revenues made up more than 50% of state income until 2011 when South Sudan seceded, taking away most oil reserves.
The government eyes gold output of around 50 t in 2013, worth around $2.5-billion, which would potentially make it Africa’s third largest gold miner behind South Africa and Ghana, and push it into the top 15 producers globally.
The latest new producer in the African country, Manajim was granted a license in 2008 to search for gold at two sites. One of those, a mine in River Nile state now has reached production stage, Suna said.
“Annual production will reach 12 t in the near future,” the firm’s chairman Abdelaziz Abaru told Suna. He gave no details.
Manajim would be one of the biggest players in Sudan based on output forecasts. Much of the country’s gold output comes from amateur prospectors whose performance is hard to verify.
The current biggest gold mine, Ariab Mining Co, a joint-venture of Canada’s La Mancha Resources and the Sudanese government, has been facing falling output after exhausting gold reserves near the surface. It is now investing to tap deeper deposits.
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