Sudanese Gold Exports Expected To Double This Year: President Umar al-Bashir

African nations like Sudan are entering the global market economy and racking up high growth in large part because of natural resource finds. There is, of course, nothing wrong with that approache: it's worked quite well for Canada. Sudan is now a major gold producer, and President Umar al-Bashi expects gold exports to more than double this year to approximately $3 billion. He gave that estimate to the Sudanese Parliament.

Sudan will expand in gold mining and oil exploration in the north as the oil-rich south prepares to declare its independence on July 9, al-Bashir told the assembly in Omdurman, a suburb of Khartoum, the capital.

So: despite the southern Sudan secession, which will remove a lot of oil wealth from the government of Sudan's hands, all is not lost for the rest of the country.