Reuters reported that Sudan opened its first gold refinery with the aim of increasing the amount and quality of its gold exports following the loss of 75 percent of its oil output due to South Sudan’s secession. The refinery is located in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.

As quoted in the market news:

The refinery will have a daily production capacity of 900kg of gold and 200kg of silver, its head Mohamed Osman al-Zubeir said at the opening ceremony. This more than doubles the previous forecast for the refinery’s annual gold capacity, to 328 tonnes from 150 tonnes

Sudan hopes to sell gold worth up to $3 billion this year, double last year’s gold revenue. Central bank governor Mohamed Kheir al-Zubeir told said on Wednesday that had sold 58 tonnes of gold worth $2.6 billion over the past 16 months.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.