Gold is Sudan’s most valuable export, and the country is Africa’s third leading producer after South Africa and Ghana. While reliable data is difficult to obtain, the Central Bank of Sudan reported that the country exported 25.2 tons of gold in 2020, and 26.4 tones during the first nine months of 2021.  The current government, seeking to bolster revenues with the loss of foreign financial assistance, has emphasized increasing gold exports in 2022.  The government has repeatedly tried to exert greater control over gold exports, but its own official estimates are that 80 percent of the country’s gold is smuggled abroad.  Large companies have established gold mining operations in Sudan, primarily in Northern, Red Sea, and West Kordofan states.  The Ministry of Minerals reports large reserves of other precious minerals (silver, platinum), base metals (copper, zinc), agro minerals (phosphates, potash), and other industrial minerals (marble, gypsum).  Sudan boasts the largest, still un-surveyed pre-Cambrian mineral deposits in Africa.