UAE-backed Chinese Company Acquires Stake in Ethiopian Gold Mine near Sudan War Zone

Last week, after protracted negotiations and various plot twists, Canadian mining company Allied Gold sold a minority stake in its assets to China’s Zijin Gold International. … This is the latest, most significant development in a saga that involves investment from the United Arab Emirates, nearby Ethiopian army bases supporting Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and a large stretch of Ethiopian land on the Sudanese border that could now be mined extensively for gold. The agreement, which is worth just under $300m, grants Zijin, a private company with at least three Chinese state-owned corporations among its leading shareholders, partial ownership of a portfolio that includes mining sites in Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and the Kurmuk concession in western Ethiopia. The Kurmuk site is in Ethiopia’s Benishangul-Gumuz region, which hosts at least one army base used by the paramilitary RSF, which is supplied by the UAE, currently also the main buyer of Ethiopian gold. … The regional capital of Asosa is, as MEE revealed earlier this year, home to a major logistics hub used by the UAE and Ethiopia to train and arm fighters from the RSF, which has been at war with the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023. The site is also about 100km away from Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile river. (Middle East Eye)