Sudan Signs Nine Concession Deals for Gold, Copper Mining

Sudan is Africa's third-largest producer of gold. (AFP)
Sudan is Africa's third-largest producer of gold. (AFP)
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Sudan Signs Nine Concession Deals for Gold, Copper Mining

Sudan is Africa's third-largest producer of gold. (AFP)
Sudan is Africa's third-largest producer of gold. (AFP)

Sudan on Thursday signed nine concession agreements for gold and copper mining with eight local and foreign companies, the state news agency SUNA said.

All the agreements are related to gold mining except one for copper, the agency quoted Minister of Minerals Mohamed Bashir Abdalla as saying.

Three companies from Iraq, China, South Africa won four gold mining concessions, and a fourth one from Armenia won the single copper concession, the report said. Four local companies took four gold concessions.

All concession areas are located in the Red Sea State, the West Kordofan state and the Northern State.

Although there are no official figures, annual gold production in Sudan is estimated at tons. However, Sudan has been complaining of widespread gold smuggling.

Last week, Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim acknowledged that the government was helpless in stopping the gold smuggling.

He further noted that certain procedures were taken to limit the illicit activity and to benefit from gold revenues.

Sudan sold 13,327,657 grams of gold worth $437,983,965 from 2015 to 2020, Abdalla said on Thursday, compared with 2,752,889 grams worth $140,805,290 from June 2020 to February 2021.

Gold sales from March to May reached $36,295,970, the minister said during the concession agreements ceremony.

He pledged to encourage modern mining and investment, saying that gold production is the top economic activity and would bring in foreign currency to the country.

He further pledged to simplify the investment procedures, to support gold manufacturing, to amend relevant legislations and tackle other steps that would encourage investment and investors.

For his part, Ibrahim called for expanding the production of minerals and related industries and attracting more investment companies in this field.



China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China announced Friday that it would expand visa-free entry to citizens of nine more countries as it seeks to boost tourism and business travel to help revive a sluggish economy.
Starting Nov. 30, travelers from Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan will be able to enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
That will bring to 38 the number of countries that have been granted visa-free access since last year. Only three countries had visa-free access previously, and theirs had been eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The permitted length of stay for visa-free entry is being increased from the previous 15 days, Lin said, and people participating in exchanges will be eligible for the first time. China has been pushing people-to-people exchange between students, academics and others to try to improve its sometimes strained relations with other countries, The Associated Press reported.
China strictly restricted entry during the pandemic and ended its restrictions much later than most other countries. It restored the previous visa-free access for citizens of Brunei and Singapore in July 2023, and then expanded visa-free entry to six more countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia — on Dec. 1 of last year.
The program has since been expanded in tranches. Some countries have announced visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, notably Thailand, which wants to bring back Chinese tourists.
For the three months from July through September this year, China recorded 8.2 million entries by foreigners, of which 4.9 million were visa-free, the official Xinhua News Agency said, quoting a Foreign Ministry consular official.