The Socioeconomic Impacts of Traditional Gold Mining Activities in Sudan Mohammed Alnagashi Hassan Altigani

This study focuses on the influences of the artisanal mining on the growth of economy and job creation, with considerations to the socioeconomics, health and environmental hazards. The study was conducted on the top-three gold-producing states (River Nile, South Kordofan, and South Darfur) in Sudan. The share of gold in total Sudanese exports has increased from 2.54% in 2011 to 33.7% in 2016. The total annual gold export earnings have increased from USD139.6 million in 2010 to USD145 million in 2011. In 2017, gold exports contributed almost by USD4 billion to the Sudanese treasury. Nearly 3 million persons are involved directly in the artisanal mining sector, which holds around 23% of the total Sudanese active labour force in 2017, millions of direct, indirect, and induced jobs were created. Almost 735,694 direct jobs were created in the traditional mining sector during the last 10 years. The study also exposed the unpleasant working environments for the traditional miners especially children and women, and gave solutions for the mostly-faced hurdles among the artisanal mining sector.