Despite the heap of money resting in his shop’s safe, gold trader Saleh Zaidani could not buy the piece of raw gold offered to him by a Sudanese man because he could not estimate the price.
The seller could see Zaidani’s confusion. “I brought this from Jebel Uweinat,” the seller said, explaining that he used to sell his gold inside Sudan and this was the first time he was trying to sell gold in Sabha, a city in south-western Libya, where Zaidani’s shop is located.
Despite the heap of money resting in his shop’s safe, gold trader Saleh Zaidani could not buy the piece of raw gold offered to him by a Sudanese man because he could not estimate the price.
The seller could see Zaidani’s confusion. “I brought this from Jebel Uweinat,” the seller said, explaining that he used to sell his gold inside Sudan and this was the first time he was trying to sell gold in Sabha, a city in south-western Libya, where Zaidani’s shop is located.
Many people inside Kufra, a Libyan city which is the closest inhabited area (350 kilometers) from the excavation site, say they know gold exists in Jebel Uweinat. A potential fortune lay in reserves yet authorities are denying it.
Knockout
Yasser Zawi says he wants to buy a GBS gold detector, which is used by most prospectors, to look for gold in the mountains with a Libyan-Sudanese group he had agreed to work with before the outbreak of the revolution. “Gold detecting devices are becoming available in the country and at reasonable prices,” Zawi explained.
Unlike Zawi, Saleh Shareef was reluctant to talk about the issue since he thought that bringing it up by the media would be a ‘fatal blow’ to his source of good income. He believes that publishing pictures of him while digging would be sufficient to send him to jail.
“This has been my profession for two years now. We sneak to the excavation sites hiding from the authorities. The area where we dig is inside the Libyan territories while we sell the gold in Sudan. There is no market for raw gold in Libya,” said Shareef, while getting ready to leave Kufra and go to the site with food to join his work partners.
Shareef’s statement confirms what Zaidani said about not being able to estimate the price of the piece, of which he had never seen anything similar, although gold trading was his life-career.
Inhabited area
Commander of Kufra Eagles Brigade Salah Bu Raqeeq says he had himself considered taking on this profession before the revolution, but when he became involved in liberating the country and later assumed security-related responsibilities, he changed his mind.
Bu Raqeeq considers the issue very dangerous and developing quickly. “Things started when a group of Sudanese prospectors crossed the borders into Libya,” he explained. Today, he says, there is however a human settlement from both countries and they have dug a well and established a market to provide groceries, foodstuff, fuel and spare parts for the machines.
He believes that that location has the potential of becoming a retreat for illegal immigrants who would find food and fuel there to cross the Libyan Desert to the coast. He also suggests future problems with Sudan which might consider Libya’s negligence of illegal border crossing a weakness, encouraging Sudan to consider the area part of its territories.
Tens of kilograms of gold
“The Sudanese started excavating for gold in Rihab Valley in Sudan. Because gold is found in chains of veins, prospectors followed the chains till they found the highest spot from which the largest amounts can be extracted. This area is Kasso Mountain, located inside the Libyan territories,” explained Bu Raqeeq.
He says prospectors gets tens of kilograms of gold from this mountain thanks to the heavy machinery they now use. “There are more than 64 working bulldozers,” said Bu Raqeeq, stressing that he once saw an 11-kilogram piece of gold with a Sudanese seller.
Companies and permits
Bu Raqeeq went beyond that to say that some excavating groups cooperated with Chinese and Turkish companies and that that cooperation could further develop given the increasing number of prospectors and settlements, especially since the Sudanese prospectors had official gold excavation permits from their government which created a market in the city of Dongola for them to sell their products. “The prospectors are very peaceful and will never pick fights. Their only concern is finding gold,” he explained.
Bu Raqeeq recognizes his responsibility as the commander of a unit tasked with protecting the city from this phenomenon and its consequences. He, however, attributes his and the authorities’ inaction to poor militaristic abilities and a lack of state support.
“Our capacities do not qualify us to protect both the city and border area. We thus see this to be the responsibility of the state, represented by it Border Guards,” he said.
Skepticism and concerns
Director of Information Security Office in Kufra’s local council Ali Bu Raqeeq doubts that the prospectors are excavating on Libyan territories. “Those in the border areas have not entered Libyan territories. And if they really exist, they are only found in Sudanese territories. The vast desert makes it very hard to decide if a place is part of the Libyan territories or the Sudanese ones, unless you are using a Thuraya phone,” he said.
Ali however fears that if the media knows and starts covering the issue, “locals might start excavating in Jebel Uweinat, causing the authorities to fail to control the situation.” Maybe this is why he denied the matter altogether.
Officials deny
Spokesman for the Ministry of Defence Adel Baraasi says no measures have been taken because the issue lies within the responsibilities of the Border Guards, who in turn deny knowing about such activities in the said area.
Baraasi suggests a potential agreement between Egypt, Sudan and Libya to explore and excavate minerals from Jebel Uweinat.
The information was, nevertheless, completely denied by Libyan Economy Minister Mustafa Bu Fannas who said he did not know “of any prospectors in that area or of a potential tripartite agreement to prospect for gold or other minerals.” He, however, pointed out that the previous minister might have more information.
The authorities’ denial of such excavation activities might be based on accurate information. It might, however, be based on fears of chaos or more violations.
Denial does not change the fact that Sudan exported approximately 42 tonnes of gold in 2012, generating revenues of $2.7 billion and substantially increasing its gross domestic product.
According to the World Gold Council, Libya is holding almost 144 tonnes of gold, meaning it ranks second in Africa, fourth among Arab countries and 24th internationally in terms of reserves. This comes while there are no systematic or licensed projects by the state to excavate this fortune and profit from it nationally.
