Russia discusses boosting mining ties with gold-rich Sudan
SUDAN, currently embroiled in a 17 month civil war, has discussed boosting cooperation in the mining sector with Russia, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
Citing a statement by Sudan’s minerals ministry, the newswire said on Wednesday the two nations met in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan. They touched on ways to expand investment opportunities, the report said.
The encounter is the latest sign of Russia’s deepening relations with Sudan’s army, which is battling the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group in a conflict the US estimates may have killed as many as 150,000 people, said Bloomberg News.
A Sudanese army official in May suggested his side might get weapons in exchange for letting the Kremlin establish a logistical support center on its coast, although no formal deal has been signed.
An improvement in commercial ties between Russia and Sudan might be a concern to Western gold mining companies which have invested in the North African country during the last three years.
Australian listed Perseus Mining invested in the country’s gold sector in 2022 after concluding the A$230m takeover of Orca Mining, a Toronto-listed gold exploration firm which discovered the Meyas Sands gold project in northern Sudan.
Perseus withdrew from Sudan about a year later amid the outbreak of the civil war, but this year resumed exploration work. In April, Bloomberg News cited Perseus CEO Jeff Quartermaine as saying Meyas Sands was “not lost to our company by any stretch of the imagination”.
Johannesburg-listed Pan African Resources said recently exploration in the country was not now a priority as it pursued other projects closer to home. In 2022 it unveiled plans to spend $7m over three years in the country on a prospect roughly 70km northwest of Port Sudan.
Russian influence in West Africa’s mining sector has grown significantly over the last five years, most notably in Mali and Burkina Faso, as well as Central African Republic further south. This has been extended to other mining districts such as Niger which recently cancelled the mining licence of uranium development firm GoviEx.
Source: https://www.miningmx.com/