For Sale

The Southern Blue Nile region is accessible by a 520 km long asphalt road from Khartoum to El Damazin. El Damazin is then  connected to Bau and other villages in the Ingessana Hills by dirt roads.

In the dry season, it takes two hours to drive from El Damazin to reach Gugub, the main artisanal gold mining village, or Bau town.

Artisanal gold mining is driven by poverty.

It provides an important livelihood for, possibly, 10 to 15 million people in all. However, it is also a major source of mercury contamination.

It is estimated that artisanal gold miners yield 800 tonnes of gold per annum, but realeasing 800 to 1000 tonnes of mercury into the environment during the process, leading to extensive environmental degradation.

The Blue Nile River is the major drainage system in southern Blue Nile region and is fed by a network of big seasonal tributaries that drain the highlands east and west of the river and then flow into the main water-course of the Blue Nile.

These seasonal wet-season waters end up in the western side of the Roseries Dam reservoir at a point around 20 km South of the El Damazin town.

There is no reliable documented information on gold production in the Ingessana Hills prior to late 1996.

Although artisanal gold mining activities in the Ingessana Hills is relatively recent, the impact on the economy of the district is substantial and is important to the local populace.

Incidentally, Chromite mining activity in various locations in the Ingessana massif started in 1960s.

The main reason for this government clamp-down on illegal gold mining is that a company called "ASCOM Precious Metals Mining, S.A.E [APM]", which is a subsidiary of ASEC Company for Mining S.A.E [ASCOM] has a gold mining concession in Blue Nile State covering 3000 square kilometres.

APM has conducted preliminary exploration, including remote sensing and field surveys, which have produced very positive results. In February 2011, this was fiollowed by a soil geochemistry programme.

APM has also had very positive gold mining results in neighbouring Ethiopia, where it has six gold mining concessions. Early results indicate a significant gold discovery.

Of course, the Blue Nile River sources in the hills of Ethiopia. Therefore there is alluvial gold in the Blue Nile River itself.