The Toll of Administrative Fragility: Miners Buried Beneath the Rubble

Report – Qureshi Awad

Across the vast landscapes of Sudan, artisanal miners tirelessly dig through the earth in search of gold-bearing stones. Their work often takes them deep into suffocating, airless tunnels. Occasionally, a glimmer of light and a whisper of fresh air cuts through the darkness—offering a fleeting sense of relief. But that same light may also mark the final moments of their lives. It signals the imminent collapse of a mine shaft, turning the narrow passageway into a mass grave, sometimes burying up to 50 miners, as was the case in the June 2025 collapse of the Al-Huwaid mine near Haya, in eastern Sudan.

According to Mohammed Abdullah “Atar,” a miner working in Sudan’s Eastern Desert, such disasters can occur when two opposing tunnels intersect, causing a breakdown in the internal rock supports known locally as shikalat. In these unregulated spaces, there are no clearly demarcated boundaries—only the presence of gold determines where miners dig.

Abdelilah, the owner of a nearby mine, explains that sometimes more than one party receives government-issued permits to mine the same area. This administrative overlap often leads to fatal accidents, especially when miners from opposing directions unwittingly collide underground, triggering a deadly cave-in.

Safety Standards in Disarray

Mine collapses can also stem from a lack of professional safety standards—especially in remote areas where financial resources for protective measures are scarce. Miners often enter the field without proper training, and many lack even basic awareness of occupational safety. Furthermore, Sudan’s mining regions are geologically unstable and frequently subject to dangerous collapses due to the use of unsafe techniques and outdated equipment.

Who Owns the Land?

While the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company (SMRC) claims to uphold safety standards, it does not oversee artisanal mining directly. Its involvement ends at the gates of gold milling markets, where it collects revenue from gold-bearing stone.

In practice, the local native administration (a traditional authority) grants mining permits, asserting ancestral ownership of the land—even though Sudanese land laws from 1970, 1984, and 1994 designate such lands, particularly seasonal riverbeds and communal lands, as state property.

Yet, in reality, native administrations lease small-scale mining plots as if on behalf of the state. When it comes to large corporate investments, however, the state enforces its authority, often ignoring local opposition. In some northern regions, this enforcement has included violent crackdowns, as seen in the conflict between locals in Sulaimaniya and a Russian mining company. In other instances, agreements are brokered between mining firms and local communities under the supervision of state governments. This ambiguous legal environment reinforces the native administration’s belief that it owns the land by right, not by delegation.

Speaking to Atar, Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, a chief from Tartayeb in the Atbara River region, claimed that his community holds a registered deed for the land, issued in 2007 and recognized by the local Haya authorities. He said mining agreements follow a partnership model: 25% for the landowners, 25% for investors, and 50% for workers. Taxes are collected by the local administration, but safety regulations are seldom enforced—unless a serious incident occurs, in which case the mine is temporarily shut down until the issue is resolved.

Loopholes and Legal Grey Zones

Government oversight is largely limited to local officials certifying informal agreements between investors and community representatives. This has contributed to a lack of effective regulation, despite artisanal mining accounting for 80% of Sudan’s gold output. No dedicated regulatory body exists to ensure safety compliance in this sector, even though Sudan has ratified the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Occupational Safety and Health Convention (1981), which applies to all economic sectors and workers.

While Sudanese labor law formally adheres to the ILO standards, they are only applied in formal economic sectors where employment is regulated. Artisanal mining remains entirely outside the reach of labor inspections or Ministry of Labor oversight.

From Farming to Mining

Land allocations for mining vary depending on location and agreements with native administrations. In some cases, specific plots are assigned based on permits or informal deals, often shaped by a prospective investor’s negotiating power.

Hubbadeen Hamed, who owns a mine in Wadi Al-Allaqi near the Egyptian border, told Atar that miners often travel from agricultural regions—such as Gedaref, Al-Jazirah, Kordofan, and Darfur—in search of income. Many were once farmers and now rely on mining for survival. A typical mining team consists of 9–10 workers using rudimentary tools like hammers and chisels. They work in 10-day shifts, and the ore is transported to one of the nearby milling markets, such as Souq Al-Matar or Souq Al-Ansari.

Sometimes, miners discover new gold veins on their own and report them to the local authority for registration. According to Hubbadeen, production is typically divided as follows: 25% to the well owner, 25% to the equipment operator (such as a machine driller), and 50% to the laborers. These agreements are mostly based on verbal contracts. Fees collected by the local administration are not part of Form 15—the national revenue collection mechanism used by the Ministry of Finance. The federal government, therefore, collects no revenue from this stage of the production chain. Only when the stone reaches licensed milling markets, overseen by the SMRC, are official fees collected.

A Workforce Without a Union

Speaking to Atar, labor rights expert and former union leader Mahjoub Kanari confirmed that all worker-employer agreements are verbal, with no involvement from the Ministry of Labor. This leaves miners vulnerable to exploitation and poor working conditions.

“We met with miners in Haya and listened to their concerns. They face harsh environmental conditions, zero legal protection, and cannot organize due to their scattered nature,” Kanari said. “Yet they have legitimate demands—improved working conditions, safety protocols, state intervention in wage fairness and healthcare.”

Kanari proposed an initiative to organize miners by selecting local representatives and volunteers to collect data and advocate for legal reform. He emphasized the urgency of establishing a union, especially given the lack of safety gear, rescue teams, or air-pumping equipment in mining shafts.

Tragedies in the Depths

Between 2019 and 2025, dozens of miners have perished in collapses across Sudan. In many cases, their bodies could not be recovered and were buried under tons of rubble.

In February 2019, a mine collapse in Gedaref killed 13 workers. The Sudanese Mineral Resources Company issued a warning about rising fatalities. Later, eight miners were killed in a collapse at the Aghbash mine in South Darfur.

In January 2021, a commercial mine in Umm Qajja village, South Kordofan, collapsed, claiming two lives. It took rescuers six days to locate their bodies. The SMRC denied rumors that more than 20 bodies were buried under the site.

In November 2022, a mine known as “Sabiha” in the Nimir Mountains of the Red Sea State collapsed, killing 11 miners. Their remains were transferred to Abidiya in River Nile State.

Quoted from Atar