DAGALO MAHAS, Sudan (AP) — The men carried metal detectors as they scanned a mountainous area in northern Sudan in search of gold. One man knelt to examine the ground with a digging tool for the precious metal in an environment that lacks even the most basic safety measures.

They are unregulated miners working in a small-scale private gold mine in the northern town of Dalgo Mahas. The mine is one of thousands of small-scale and artisanal mines scattered across Sudan, part of a sector that is at the center of the devastating war that has at times pushed parts of the country into famine.

Gold has become a major source of funding for Sudan’s treasury after the country lost over two-thirds of its oil revenues with the secession of South Sudan in 2011. The precious metal accounted for 70% of national revenues in the years that followed South Sudan’s departure, providing the Sudanese government with much-needed foreign currency.

Most recently, gold has been at the center of the ongoing war between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Large quantities of gold have been smuggled out of the country to finance paramilitaries, who control gold-producing areas in Darfur and Kordofan regions, according to United Nations-commissioned experts.

The conflict has killed at least 59,000 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a U.S.-based war tracking group that says its toll is almost certainly an underestimate, given the difficulties in reporting.

The war also created the world’s largest humanitarian disaster, forcing over 10 million people to flee their homes. Many displaced people joined the mining industry in order to make ends meet for their families.

“Gold mining is the only thing I can rely on,” said Atta al-Khazin, a 28-year-old miner who abandoned his previous profession as a farmer. “Due to the high oil prices, agriculture no longer covered expenses.”

Zahir Adam, a 35-year-old father from the Darfur city of el-Fasher who worked in gold mining for more than a decade, said the sector has drawn many people since the war broke out over three years ago.

They had “no other option,” he said. “Many young people, and many families, depend on mining.”

Sudan produced 70 tons of gold last year, up from 64 tons in 2024, according to official figures, making it one of Africa’s top producers. Gold generated about $1.8 billion in revenues in 2025, figures from the state-run Sudanese Mineral Resources Company showed.

Artisanal and small-scale gold mining accounts for the majority of gold extracted in the sprawling country, where safety standards are largely ignored.

Artisanal miners like the men in Dalgo Nahas usually extract the gold, then crush the ore before applying toxic mercury to create the amalgam. The amalgam is then heated, usually on a stove, to evaporate the mercury and recover the gold.

The process, which includes using hazardous chemicals, is also risky for people living near the mines.

Many of these mines are not controlled by the government. The U.N. panel of experts said in their 2024 report that more than 50% of the gold mined in Sudan was not traded through formal channels but was smuggled out of the country.

Deadly mine collapses are not uncommon in Sudan, where safety standards are not widely applied. Last month, at least seven miners were killed in a mine collapse in the Red Sea province. Thirteen others were killed in another collapse in South Kordofan province in January.

A civilian transitional government that ruled the country for over a year after the military overthrow of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019 attempted to regulate the crucial industry.

However, its efforts were aborted by a military coup in October 2021, and the war that began in 2023.

Mohnd Blal, The Associated Press