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            South Sudan Hopes New Mining Law Will Unearth Treasures

   by Hannah McNeish

   South Sudan won independence and vast oil reserves in 2011, when it
   split from civil war foe Sudan. As the rocky relationship with its
   northern neighbor jeopardizes oil exports, however, the new nation
   hopes a new mining law will attract foreign companies to unearth its
   mineral treasures and secure its future fortune. In the country's "wild
   east," thousands of people armed only with picks and pans are hunting
   for gold.
   This "gold mine" in Nanakanak, Eastern Equatoria state, is just one of
   many spots across South Sudan's east where a gold rush has hit.
   Adele Natogo said that like countless others, she left her nine
   children and village - an eight-hour walk from Nanakanak - a month ago
   to sift through the endless piles of terracotta rubble for gold.
   "There are so many people that have come here. They are all over the
   bush, everyone looking for gold. This is a big place," said Natogo.
   But many of the miners say the golden era of finding nuggets is over.
   Now they squint at their plastic basins for the tiniest speck of gold
   and hope machines will arrive soon to help their hunt.
   Trader Samuel Kivuva in the nearest town, Kapoeta, said that when
   foreigners gave metal detectors to artisanal miners last year, their
   yield more than doubled from 5 kilograms of gold per week.
   "Per week they were collecting 12 kilograms of this gold and at least
   they were performing, not in the way of these people that use basins
   and whatever," said Kivuva.
   At the Ministry of Mines in Juba, undersecretary of mining Andu Ezbon
   Adde said the government suspended previous small-scale mining licenses
   while putting the finishing touches to a mining law aimed at pulling in
   big investors - and big money - to extract the gold, copper, iron ore
   and other metals thought to lie under the eastern region.
   "Coming out of war, things were not well organized. Giving out the
   licenses was not well organized, so the government decided to stop any
   exploration work until the law has been signed. Now the law has been
   signed we are working on now what they call regulations, which may not
   be clear to the common man. So I'm sure that this year, we will be
   giving out licenses," said Adde.
   But until machines arrive to replace the picks and pans,
   farmers-turned-panners in this impoverished and drought-stricken region
   are tasked with uncovering the minerals that in years to come could
   wean the new nation off its dependency on oil revenue.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/south-sudan-hopes-new-mining-law-will
   -unearth-treasures/1673405.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/south-sudan-hopes-new-mining-law-will-unearth-treasures/1673405.html