A new report by the Swiss NGO SWISSAID has described South Sudan’s gold sector as highly informal and illegal, with production entirely dominated by unregulated artisanal mining and all exports believed to be smuggled out of the country. The report, titled “African Gold Report: South Sudan,” states that a lack of official statistics and effective governance makes it impossible to know the true scale of the trade. However, based on estimates from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, SWISSAID suggests that approximately five tonnes of gold, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, may be produced and smuggled ... (full story)