São Paulo – The Sudanese minister of Minerals, Ahmed El Karori, will be in Brazil from May 12th to 16th to know the sector’s technologies in the country better. He will take part of the 6th Brazilian Symposium on Mineral Exploration, which takes place in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, and will also have appointments in Brasília, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
“He wants to see the vast experience Brazil has in mining and try to institutionalise cooperation. He wants to know more about the Brazilian technology and also about the services and consulting agencies in the area”, explains Abd Elghani Elkarim, Sudan’s ambassador in Brasília.
Elkarim says that, after the territorial division in Sudan, in which the country has lost important oil reserves, mining has become a priority for the local economy. “Last year, we exported US$ 2.5 billion in gold”, he points out. He stresses that even after the separation, Sudan is still the third largest African country. “And this territory possesses many ores”, he points out.
Besides the symposium, El Karori will visit the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME, in the Portuguese acronym), in Brasilia. The other appointments in the minister’s schedule are being programmed by MME and the Ministry of External Relations, known as Itamaraty. “He wants to invite Brazilian companies to see the mining potential of Sudan, and not only exploration companies, but also services, consulting and technical area companies”, says Elkarim.
According to data from the Ministry for Mining of Sudan, the sector is not very developed there yet and its contribution to the country’s economy does not surpass 4%. In spite of that, the Ministry says it has been obtaining encouraging results in mineral exploration and that several local and foreign companies have been operating in the country.
At present, the only resources mined in Sudan are gold (associated), chromium ores, gypsum, salt and building materials mainly cement raw materials, along with some fluoride and manganese.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
