The Gold Slipping Through Our Fingers: Governance Failures, Not a Lack of Wealth

Dr Al-Sadiq Ali Haj Al-Sheikh
In a country whose soil conceals silent brilliance and awakens each day to unrealised promise, Sudan stands upon a wealth that resembles a dream when discovered, yet a source of anxiety when managed. It is a land that yields gold as naturally as trees bear fruit, yet what emerges from beneath its surface does not always find its way into the national treasury. It is as though the distance between the mine and the state is measured less by geography than by widening governance gaps.
In times of war, overlapping authorities and weakened oversight institutions, gold ceases to be a sovereign national resource and instead becomes a commodity in search of someone capable of securing it. Rather than serving as an economic opportunity, it has become a mirror reflecting an economy quietly bleeding.
First: A Mountain of Gold, Empty Vaults – Where Does the Production Go?
Available figures indicate that Sudan produced nearly 200 tonnes of gold over only a few years. Yet barely half of that entered official channels, leaving a gap exceeding 100 tonnes—worth billions of dollars. It is as though the nation’s wealth is born complete beneath the earth, only to lose a substantial portion before ever reaching the state.
In 2025 alone, production exceeded 71 tonnes. However, official exports accounted for only a fraction of that amount, while the remainder disappeared through multiple unofficial channels outside the formal system. The question therefore remains unanswered: where does this gold go, and why does it never return?
Second: Gold That Leaves but Never Returns – Sudan’s Web of Leakage
Gold does not disappear through a single gateway. Rather, it leaks through an intricate network where geography intersects with politics, and economics with security.
Part of it is smuggled—sometimes through sophisticated criminal networks, sometimes through the chaos of porous borders—into neighbouring countries. Another portion comes from artisanal mining operating outside formal regulatory frameworks. A third share is extracted in conflict zones, where it has become an indirect source of financing for armed confrontation.
With multiple actors involved—including state institutions, private companies and armed groups—a parallel gold economy has emerged that is increasingly difficult to regulate or trace. The distinction between the state and the market, and between lawful production and illicit trade, has become increasingly blurred.
The war has further intensified these dynamics. Oversight mechanisms have weakened, areas beyond effective state control have expanded, and in some locations gold no longer passes through the gateway of the economy but through the gateway of survival and influence.
Third: Artisanal Mining – A Livelihood and a Source of Systemic Loss
Artisanal mining remains one of Sudan’s principal sources of gold production. At the same time, it constitutes one of the country’s largest channels of economic leakage.
It provides livelihoods for thousands of families amid widespread poverty and unemployment. However, it operates largely outside legal regulation and lacks effective environmental and financial oversight.
Primitive extraction methods and hazardous chemicals have caused accumulating environmental and public health damage, while significant quantities of gold leave mining sites without registration, taxation or official supervision.
The sector’s links, in some cases, with smuggling networks, combined with the absence of licensed cooperative structures, have made it a central conduit through which national wealth escapes the formal economy—even though, at its core, it remains an essential source of social survival that cannot simply be ignored or abolished.
Fourth: When Gold Becomes a Parallel Currency – An Economy Beyond the State
Gold is gradually evolving into an alternative currency operating outside the formal financial system. It is frequently sold directly in exchange for foreign currencies that never enter the Central Bank, with transactions conducted entirely outside the banking sector.
Meanwhile, significant quantities of unrefined gold continue to be exported, depriving Sudan of substantial value addition that could instead be created domestically.
Combined with the limited number of exporting companies and the concentration of trade routes in the hands of a few actors, the formal economy continues to shrink. In contrast, a vast shadow economy expands—one through which wealth flows without generating commensurate national benefit.
Fifth: International Lessons in Turning Gold into an Engine of Development
Experiences from several countries demonstrate that gold becomes a genuine national asset not merely because it exists underground, but because of how it is governed.
In Ghana, artisanal mining was gradually integrated into the formal economy through licensed cooperatives, strengthened environmental regulation, and expanded oversight by organised companies.
South Africa developed an integrated mining industry supported by both domestic and international firms operating within a robust financial and legislative framework, making gold an integral component of the broader economy rather than simply a raw commodity.
Tanzania, meanwhile, reduced exports of raw gold, established domestic refining facilities, and strengthened oversight of artisanal mining, thereby increasing state revenues while reducing economic leakage.
These experiences all point to the same conclusion: success depends not on the volume of gold produced but on governance, domestic value addition, and the gradual formalisation of the informal sector.
Sixth: Policies That Constrict the Market While Wealth Searches for an Exit
In Sudan, gold purchasing remains dominated by the Central Bank through monopolistic arrangements, alongside export restrictions and limited quotas for some companies. While intended to strengthen regulatory control, these policies have had the unintended consequence of narrowing formal marketing channels and driving an even greater share of activity into the parallel economy, where wealth moves beyond institutional oversight.
As a result, Sudan’s gold finds itself trapped between regulation that restricts legitimate commerce and an informal market ready to absorb every ounce that escapes official control.
Seventh: Saving Sudan’s Gold in the Post-War Period
The post-war period presents a historic opportunity to redefine the relationship between the Sudanese state and its mineral wealth—provided the country moves beyond crisis management towards institutional reconstruction.
This should begin with a comprehensive restructuring of the sector, including the establishment of an independent National Gold Authority, a clear separation of regulatory and operational responsibilities, and the elimination of overlapping roles between military and civilian actors in the mining industry.
Formalising artisanal mining rather than leaving it outside the state framework has become an urgent necessity. This includes organising miners into licensed cooperatives while providing safer technologies and environmentally responsible alternatives.
Domestic refining through national refineries represents another strategic priority, enabling Sudan to transition from an exporter of raw materials to a producer of higher-value products. Likewise, establishing a national gold exchange alongside digital traceability systems would strengthen transparency and reduce leakage.
Above all, gold revenues must be explicitly linked to reconstruction and state-building if mineral wealth is to become genuine national development.
Eighth: Strategic Recommendations for Maximising National Benefit
To transform gold into a genuine engine of economic growth, Sudan should adopt a comprehensive policy package at both federal and state levels.
1. Reform Institutional Governance
Establish an independent National Gold Authority with comprehensive regulatory powers.
Clearly define the responsibilities of the federal government and state governments in regulation, production and oversight.
Eliminate overlapping authority between security and economic institutions.
2. Empower States While Maintaining National Coordination
Allocate a defined share of gold revenues to state governments for local development.
Establish specialised state-level offices to oversee mining and trade.
Link state revenues to transparent fiscal transfer mechanisms.
3. Formalise Rather Than Eliminate Artisanal Mining
Organise miners into licensed cooperatives.
Provide technical support and environmentally safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals.
Introduce compulsory registration of production at mining sites.
4. Reduce Leakage and Smuggling
Establish joint monitoring units involving customs authorities, economic security agencies and state governments.
Implement digital tracking systems covering the entire supply chain from extraction to export.
Strengthen penalties against organised smuggling networks.
5. Increase Domestic Value Addition
Build modern refineries near major production areas.
Gradually prohibit exports of unprocessed gold.
Encourage domestic jewellery manufacturing to increase market value.
6. Reform Gold Monetary Policy
Review the Central Bank’s purchasing monopoly to achieve a better balance between regulation and market efficiency.
Permit licensed banks and companies to participate in the purchase and export of gold.
Direct a portion of gold revenues towards financing essential imports.
7. Improve Transparency and Public Reporting
Publish official monthly production and export reports.
Make data accessible to state governments and civil society.
Introduce digital systems to prevent data manipulation.
8. Direct Gold Revenues Towards Reconstruction
Allocate a fixed proportion of gold revenues to a National Reconstruction Fund.
Use gold reserves as collateral to attract international investment during the recovery period.
Transform gold into an instrument for currency stability rather than merely an export commodity.
Ninth: Two Billion Dollars Lost – An Economy Searching for Opportunity
Current estimates suggest that billions of dollars leave the formal banking system each year through smuggling, leakage and weak governance.
Had even a substantial portion of these revenues entered the official economy, Sudan could have strengthened exchange rate stability, improved its capacity to finance imports, and provided significant funding for post-war reconstruction.
Instead, continued leakage leaves Sudan with immense mineral wealth but without economic benefits proportional to its true value.
Conclusion
Sudan’s gold resembles an underground river—its sound can be heard, but its course remains unseen. It gleams beneath the surface, only to dissipate once it reaches daylight.
In the post-war era, the challenge will not be extracting gold from the earth, but ensuring that the state truly possesses it through effective laws, institutions and governance.
Either this precious resource will become the cornerstone upon which a new Sudan is built, or it will continue to slip quietly away, like sunlight escaping through open fingers at sunset—leaving behind a nation richer beneath its soil, yet poorer upon its surface.
Ultimately, a nation’s wealth is measured not merely by what its land produces, but by what its institutions can preserve and transform into prosperity for its people.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=15497