After South Sudan’s independence in 2011 and Sudan’s loss of 75 per cent of its oil production and huge share of foreign currency revenues, reliance on gold as a main budget and foreign-exchange source increased. Sudan’s gold output rose steadily to 105 tonnes by the end of 2017, then fluctuated afterward.
In the shadow of the war that has continued since April 15, 2023, domestic capital shifted to artisanal mining after investments stopped and economic and commercial activity declined. Factory destruction and a stalled real estate market pushed artisans to gold sites, bringing dozens of trades. On January 9, 2025, Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim told Reuters that Sudan produced 64 tonnes of gold in 2024 and officially exported 31 tonnes.
Though the yellow metal may glitter, it has a paler face — the pallor of death — to residents of South Kordofan.
Though the yellow metal may glitter, it has a paler face, the pallor of death, to residents of South Kordofan, who have suffered from companies and mills prospecting for gold, especially those that use cyanide. The state has seen repeated confrontations between citizens and those companies over the past decade, and clashes have recurred recently, particularly in areas such as Kaloqi, Tartar, Talodi and Leri, with companies resuming activity.
Artisanal “traditional” mining strips soil and raw rock that contain gold, then crushes and treats the material with mercury, which extracts roughly 30 per cent of the gold in the rock. This process leaves a contaminated mix containing mercury, locally called “karta,” which is later treated with cyanide to recover the remaining gold. That treatment occurs in factories or plants owned by companies that buy karta from artisanal mines and produces highly toxic industrial waste made up of various metal cyanide salts. Miners, small firms and plants dispose of this waste by dumping it into valleys and waterways, causing severe and long-lasting contamination of local environments around artisanal mining areas.
Chronicles of poison and fury: 2017–2025
On February 10, 2017, hundreds of residents of Kaloqi staged a protest outside the local council offices and the security agency, demanding the closure of a gold-extraction plant they said used cyanide, a substance harmful to people and the environment. Ahmed Hassan Badawi, the area commissioner, heeded the protesters’ demands. A delegation of demonstrators, accompanied by the commissioner, went to the plant in the Hamit area and shut it down.
On March 29, 2017, residents of Talodi in South Kordofan burned Al-Taqoula gold-processing plant and all its machinery in protest over its use of cyanide.
On October 3, 2019, residents of Kaloqi intercepted about 5 tonnes of cyanide being transported from Talodi on several tipper trucks, seized the load and filed complaints against Al-Junaid and Al-Futtaim Mining Companies. Others set fire to some of the trucks. Three days later, according to social media accounts at the time, a Rapid Support Forces (RSF) unit descended on Kaloqi in about 30 vehicles. Soldiers surrounded the scene and attempted to remove the cyanide with a winch to obscure the traces. Locals objected to the handling of the dangerous material and warned that its transport required specialists, but their concerns were ignored. The soldiers loaded the cyanide and headed for Talodi. On the way, they met the Qardoud Toro mine and reportedly beat its workers with whips. The same pattern repeated at Al-Taqoula mine in the Talodi locality, where soldiers beat and looted miners and goldsmiths at the site. That violence prompted Talodi residents to organize a peaceful march after submitting a memorandum to the local commissioner and to the command of the 56th Infantry Brigade.
On October 9, 2019, the Council of Ministers issued an order banning the use of mercury and cyanide in mining operations, especially in the Talodi area. At the time, government spokesman and former information minister Faisal Mohammed Saleh said the council had ordered an immediate halt to company operations in Talodi and appointed monitors from the local community to oversee mining activity and report any environmental violations or use of substances banned by law.
On March 15, 2023, a rise in cattle deaths in Talodi locality prompted residents to file complaints against several mining sites using industrial mixers. Authorities arrested nine mixer owners after investigations found they had used cyanide, a chemical blamed for the livestock fatalities. Environmental activists accused the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company of issuing licenses for the mixers and collecting regular licensing fees. They warned that mixer waste was dumped into waterways relied upon for drinking and for watering livestock, creating a severe environmental risk, especially with the rainy season approaching.
When war broke out on April 15, 2023, mining companies in South Kordofan suspended operations. They resumed activity after a mining coordination meeting on July 26, 2024, convened by Governor Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel Karim in Kadugli, where officials discussed mine disputes and the possibility of restarting firms that had stopped because of the war and local conflicts. The governor urged companies to return to work and said the government planned to establish a mining exchange in the eastern localities to curb smuggling and protect traders. The governor stressed the need for coordination among communities, security agencies and the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company. The company’s director-general, Mohamed Taher Omar, had, on June 9, 2024, said that the company would marshal all its capacities to revive the mining sector in South Kordofan.
By May 17, 2025, more than 50 companies had entered the sector and were ordered to process mining waste that had accumulated since 2010, the state director of the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company Warsha Nasser Warsha, said, adding that the firms starting work held contracts with the Ministry of Minerals.
Unlike before, the new companies in Kaloqi and Leri did not come in plain clothes — they came as military.
– Government official
A local source told Atar companies met traditional leaders and promised development services to local communities if allowed to begin exploration. Consequently, local administrations signed agreements permitting the companies to operate. He added those meetings included representatives of the companies, the local government and the security committee, which comprises military, intelligence and police officials.
A government official told Atar that the companies now operating in Kaloqi and Leri did not come in civilian dress as before, when most firms worked in plain clothes except for the Al-Junaid firm owned by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, which had been active in Talodi.
“These companies are military and hide their names,” he said.
An activist told Atar that companies influenced some local youths who publicly endorsed prospecting operations.
Leading the supporters was a body called the “Development Committee,” which now manages prospecting and coordinates between the companies and residents, and it was a signatory to the local agreement.
On July 3, 2025, a farmer told Atar that companies moved about 15 tipper loads of mining waste, mine tailings, from exploration sites to locations that contain cyanide. That action prompted protests by activists in Kaloqi and rejection by some residents, followed by an arrest campaign carried out by security forces against several young men.
On July 13, residents staged a protest demanding a halt to mining and the release of the detained youths. In the evening the detainees were released from the 10th Division headquarters in Abu Jubayhah and returned to Kaloqi.
These incidents have raised deep concern among local communities, especially because natural waterways connect Kaloqi, Leri and Talodi, increasing the risk of environmental and health harm to pastoralist and farming communities. That danger surfaced on July 3, 2025, when witnesses found more than ten goats dead and bloated near Al-Taqoula processing plant’s mining waste site.
Another account
In an interview with Atar, an official at the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company who asked to remain anonymous, said 11 companies have arrived and are preparing to start work. Among them are Concorp, Didan, TansI, Kasuda, Kator, Shangil, SNS, Mamour and Masbat, with others poised to enter.
He said four of these companies had worked in the area before and began preliminary steps, but autumn conditions prevented actual operations. He expected mining to pause until the weather improves.
On the roots of the mining problem, the official said waste-processing firms were set up to curb pollution from mercury used in artisanal or informal mining. The official noted that this style of mining recovers only about 30–35 per cent of the gold in rock using mercury, leaving the leftover soil, “karta”, to be processed later with other methods to extract the remainder.
He said companies buy “karta” from artisanal miners and treat it with cyanide to boost economic returns and reduce gold loss. The government share from these firms ranges from about 17 per cent previously to 22 per cent now.
The official stressed that companies must follow strict environmental and safety measures, including installing condensers to capture and recover mercury during processing. They must, he said, also submit feasibility studies before operations that include plans for site management during and after closure, along with commitments for post-operation environmental remediation. They must involve local communities and independent monitors in oversight and enforcement.
Despite its toxicity, cyanide is used under strict international rules… but politically motivated groups have branded it as deadly while ignoring mercury.
Mineral Resources Company official
On social responsibility, the official said the state issued a decree requiring companies to allocate four per cent of production to local development, with projects to be chosen with community representatives, the local administration, the Mineral Resources Company and the implementing firm. Local councils’ involvement was required too.
The official said that despite its toxicity, cyanide is used under strict international rules from handling to storage, and that Sudanese standards forbid concentrations above 40 milligrams per kilogramme of soil, below the global limit of 50 milligrams per kilogramme. He added that company-trained monitors oversee compliance and make periodic inspections.
Addressing accusations against the companies, the official said politically motivated groups have stoked opposition to their operations, branding cyanide as deadly while ignoring the heavy use of mercury in artisanal mining. He noted that some of these groups include artisanal miners who own pits and have smuggled gold to Khartoum in the past and now reportedly to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
The official said those groups previously incited residents, drove out some companies and burned several plants.
“In 2021, we held an awareness visit to explain cyanide use,” he said, “but some actors incited people, we were expelled and threatened, and later found many of them own artisanal sites and profit from gold smuggling.”
He said that, on this occasion, local communities themselves appealed to companies to return. Delegations reached the company’s offices asking for the firms’ comeback, a sign, he said, that attitudes have shifted as people recognize the economic and development gains mining can bring.
The official concluded by warning of “clear exploitation of some citizens’ ignorance to spread false information against the companies and the state,” arguing that the lack of a strategic plan to manage this vital resource left room for chaos and environmental harm.
“In my view, artisanal mining is the main cause of environmental destruction and the erasure of geological identity in these areas because digging is done haphazardly without regard for other minerals or land formations,” he said.
Return of companies: a distorted balance
Local communities face two bitter choices: accept pollution and health risks, or resist amid shrinking freedoms and more arrests>
Between the metal’s shine and the dangers residents see in the water, the air and the sight of livestock swelling, people in South Kordofan ask whether life here will become a deferred cost of gold’s profits.
Is the return of mining companies, especially in the eastern part of the state, and their use of cyanide simply a repeat of an old pattern that sacrifices environment and public health for short-term economic gain, especially amid war and a weak central state?
Despite a long history of community resistance to cyanide use in treating artisanal mining waste and past successes that forced shutdowns, companies have returned under political and military protection and in coordination with actors in traditional administration. This reflects a shift in the balance of power on the ground.
Officials justify the comeback by citing the urgent need for foreign exchange and higher revenues, but fears of repeated environmental disasters without real oversight or accountability.
In this skewed equation, local communities face two bitter choices: accept pollution and health risks for development promises that may not materialize, or resist amid shrinking freedoms and more arrests.
That makes it essential to amplify victims’ voices, document violations and urgently open a serious national debate about mining’s future in Sudan, balancing economic need with human rights and environmental justice.
