South Sudan: Brimming with potential, safe and open for business

Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and the establishment of the regional government of Southern Sudan in 2005, South Sudan's mineral resources have remained almost completely untapped.

The country recently opened its doors for investors in gold, green tech metals and industrial minerals. HLENGIWE MOTAUNG reports.

Unlike the oil sector, from which South Sudan inherited a mature industry complete with access to infrastructure, including several pipelines extending north through Sudan to the Red Sea, mining has remained untapped until recently.

According to Minister of Mines Hon. Martin G. Abucha, the country has an array of mineral offerings, ranging from clean green tech metals, such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, gold, rare earth and industrial minerals, such as limestone, sand and silica.

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This favours South Sudan's position, as the world heads into the green energy transition. Abucha also revealed that recent exploration studies tell of 40 Mt of copper in some regions of the country, "Exploration studies for copper have already been done resulting in excess of 40 Mt in one small area, so opportunities are immense in that area.

"Historically, South Sudan has been a closed district since 1914, but now we want to change that. We are now an independent country and can tell our own story. Our established set of laws and regulations are open to any investor around the world."

Security assurance

Tensions between South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Vice-President Riek Machar haveremained a concern to onlookers. South Sudan's civil war from 2013-2018, often fought along ethnic lines, claimed many lives, triggered a famine, and created Africa's biggest refugee crisis.

Abucha has assured investors of the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan which is currently underway. Kiir and Machar's forces signed a peace agreement in 2018 that ended five years of civil war.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir and his vice president, Riek Machar, have agreed to resume talks about uniting rival forces under a unified command after weeks of escalating conflict between the sides.

"After the 2018 agreement, our communities have been peaceful, they respect the laws, and are very open to working with any investors."

"The 2018 peace agreement has reduced the intensity of the civil civil war, making way for the parties in the government to work together to accelerate the implementation of the peace agreement's other tasks. "So, there is no insecurity in the country, and we promise to keep it this way," states Abucha.

To reach out to more investors, the country will be hosting its very first mining conference in 2023. "If you’re looking for any mineral resources at a minimal cost, it is in South Sudan," concludes Abacha.