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For Sudanese worker Mohamed Taher, hunting for gold with a metal detector in the Nubian desert is a way to end years of unemployment.
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"Sometimes I find one to four ounces, sometimes nothing. But if I find something it will cover all my expenses," says Mohamed, who regularly camps out with friends to search for gold.
Like tens of thousands of other Sudanese, Mohamed has been lured by a gold rush in the remote northeast of the vast country, where experts say large amounts of valuable minerals may lie buried. Some government officials estimate 200,000 people or more may have taken part in the rush since last year.
Mohamed's home village, Bir Ajam, is located some 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Hassai mine, Sudan's biggest, in the mountainous desert hinterland of the Red Sea city of Port Sudan.
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The venture which runs the mine, Ariab Mining Co, in which the Sudanese government holds a majority stake and Canada's La Mancha Resources owns 40 percent, is investing millions of dollars to expand gold output and look for other minerals such as copper.
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The gold fever is spreading some wealth to one of Sudan's poorest regions, where nomadic life for much of the population has changed little from centuries ago. Lured by record international gold prices above $1,600 an ounce, villagers like Mohamed search for gold on the outskirts of the Hassai mine. Hundreds of others work in the mine itself.
A mining industry conference this month in Port Sudan, the country's first in decades, attracted dozens of foreign executives and experts -- a rare sight in a country shunned by most Western firms because of U.S. sanctions imposed over a decade ago amid charges that Sudan sponsored terrorism.
"Sudan represents one of the last remaining African countries that has significant gold potential and has not been subject of intense, systematic exploration in the modern era," Howard Bills of the British-based mining firm Toro Gold told the conference.
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The Nubian desert has been a source of gold since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, but only in the past few years has the government stepped up exploration efforts.
Sudan hopes an expansion of gold exports will bring in much-needed foreign currency and compensate for oil revenues lost with the secession of the south of the country in July this year. Before the split, the country produced about 500,000 barrels of oil a day and earned around $5 billion from oil exports annually; secession meant the north lost some 75 percent of that.
Annual inflation was 21 percent in September, partly because the loss of oil revenues has caused the Sudanese pound to depreciate in the black market, driving up the cost of food and other imported goods.
The government has handed out almost 100 new gold exploration licences to foreign and local firms in the past 12 months, bringing the total number of outstanding licences to about 200.
"Sudan is right now high on the list globally in terms of the likelihood of gold discoveries," said Tucker Barrie, a Canadian mining expert who regular visits Sudan's industry. "I see it as pretty positive...There will be more discoveries."
