Sudan signs 10 gold, iron mining agreements, ministry says

Sudan signed 10 agreements for gold and iron mining today, as the African nation plans to more than double its gold output to 50 metric tons next year.

“These 10 agreements take the total number of mining agreements signed this year to 45,” Mining Minister Abdel Baqi al-Jailani said in an interview in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, after the signing ceremony.

Four of the agreements were signed with international companies including Toro East Africa Ltd., the Sudan branch of the Guernsey-based Toro Gold Ltd., and India’s Orbit for Multi Activities Co. Ltd., an offshoot of Rika Global Impex Ltd., based in Mumbai, according to a statement handed to reporters. The agreements grant the companies exploration rights in the states of Northern Kordofan, Al-Shamaliya, Nahr al-Nil and the Red Sea, which are all located in the north of the country.

Sudan, which relies on oil exports for most of its foreign currency earnings, plans to diversify its economy and expand into gold mining and agriculture in the country’s north as the oil-rich region of Southern Sudan prepares for an independence vote in January, Finance Minister Ali Mahmoud Abdel Rasoul said last month.

Sudan expects to sign five more mining agreements before the end of 2010, and to sign 50 agreements in 2011 as it is experiencing “a rush” from foreign companies for gold exploration, including from Australia, Europe and the US, al- Jailani said, without providing details.