What natural resources are in Sundan?

The big three: gold, oil, and farmland

Sudan's wealth is dominated by massive gold deposits, substantial crude oil reserves, and a global near-monopoly on gum arabic, the natural resin used in food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals.

When South Sudan split off, gold stepped in to fill the economic void. Sudan grew into the third-largest gold producer in Africa. Both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) profit from controlling mines and collecting taxes, with revenue from gold reaching an estimated $1.6 billion in 2024 alone.

Before South Sudan's secession, the petroleum industry accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Sudanese government's revenue. The ongoing conflict has devastated what remains of the oil sector, with production falling to roughly 21,000 barrels per day by late 2025 amid fears of a complete collapse.

The Blue Nile and White Nile rivers provide the water backbone for large-scale irrigation, supporting the Gezira Scheme, one of the world's largest irrigation projects. Sudan also holds approximately 80 million feddans, roughly 33.6 million hectares, of unused arable land, among the most extensive in Africa.

What else is underground

About 75 percent of Sudan's mineral resources remain unexplored, with deposits of copper, iron ore, chromite, zinc, base metals, uranium, and various rare earth elements largely untouched. Uranium and other rare elements are found in Butana, the Red Sea hills, West and South Kordofan, and Darfur. Chromite, a mineral used to make stainless steel, is extracted from the Ingessana Hills.

Why the resources make the war worse

This is the part that connects directly to what we covered earlier about the SAF and RSF. Since the war began, control over gold mines and trade routes has become a critical source of funding for both sides. Britain's Foreign Office has stated that Sudan's gold industry serves as the primary engine of its war economy, while billions of dollars' worth of gold are smuggled out annually through illicit channels to fund weapons and military operations.

Nearly all of that gold is sold via the United Arab Emirates, a country the SAF has accused of funding their enemy, the RSF. Sanctioned networks specifically exploit gold markets in Dubai and Hong Kong to move Sudanese gold into global supply chains.

Decades of conflict, mismanagement, and underinvestment have left much of Sudan's wealth untapped, or worse, fueling the very violence that prevents the country from realizing its potential.