The Ministry of Mining in South Sudan on Wednesday signed a deal with a Qatari gold factory that will buy gold from small-scale dealers.
According to the state-owned broadcaster, South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), Dr. Cosmas Pitia Kujo, the undersecretary at the mining ministry, signed on behalf of the government while the country director of the United Gold Factory, signed on behalf of the Qatari gold firm.
Dr. Pitia said the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to organize and channel small-scale mining enterprises in the country.
“The MOU is going to be a Public-Private Partnership to organize our small-scale gold mining, that is formalization of them. We do not have any infrastructure and they (Qataris) will be doing that in terms of a refinery,” he stated. “They will also organize our gold dealers and that means we are going to have some marketing.”
“We already initiated this (marketing) a long time ago and we were not able to do it but we are going to cooperate to achieve all the goals that we have signed in that MOU,” Dr. Pitia added.
For his part, Moses Thon Manyuon, the Country Coordinator of United Gold Factory, said they aim to support local miners and build their capacity for better gold extractions.
“Our main mission is to support the local miners by enhancing their gold extraction capacity,” he said. “We are also planning to open up a center in partnership with the Government of South Sudan so that gold dealers have a readily available market.”
“We will be here to buy gold and if there are huge quantities, we will set up a refinery,” Thon added.