A partial collapse in a decommissioned gold mine in northern Sudan has killed 15 miners, a state company said on Monday.
The miners had snuck into the shut-down Mohamed Tawfiq mine, in Wadi Halfa near the Egyptian border, when “parts of the mine collapsed… killing 15 miners and injuring one,” the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company said.
Since war erupted in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, both sides’ war efforts have been largely funded by Sudan’s gold industry, in addition to foreign backers.
The war has devastated Sudan’s already fragile economy and left much of the country out of work, pushing many into a dangerous gold rush.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining, which takes place in unofficial zones or decommissioned mines, accounts for the majority of gold extracted.
These mines lack proper safety measures and use hazardous chemicals that often cause widespread illness in nearby areas.
Even before the war pushed 25 million Sudanese into acute food insecurity, artisanal mining employed more than two million people, according to industry figures.
Africa’s third-largest country is one of the continent’s top gold producers, and this year SMRC reported a “five-year high” in production of 70 tons in 2025.
But officials say much of the gold is smuggled across Sudan’s borders.
Of last year’s 70 tons, only “20 tons were exported through official channels”, army-aligned Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim told AFP.