Overview

• Eleven miners were killed and seven injured when an artisanal shaft at the Kirsh al-Fil mine in Houeid collapsed over the weekend.
• The state-owned Sudanese Mineral Resources Company had previously halted operations at the site and issued safety warnings about its ongoing use.
• Such collapses are common in Sudan’s unregulated small-scale gold sector, which lacks adequate safety oversight.
• Since the conflict began in 2023, gold extraction has financed both the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces through smuggling networks to neighboring states and the UAE.
• Sudan’s three-year civil war has killed tens of thousands and displaced some 13 million people, intensifying humanitarian and economic strains.