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At least 17 people were killed and 2 others injured when a gold mine collapsed in northeastern Sudan on Tuesday.

Majority of the people buried in the mine, located on the Atbara-Haya road were from Darfur.

Sudan’s Minerals Ministry has said there are over 2 million Sudanese employees working in the traditional mining industry, producing around 80 percent of the country’s gold, Xinhua reports.

Currently, Sudan ranks the third, after Ghana and South Africa, in gold production in Africa, but observers expect it to climb to the top this year.

Sudan depends on the revenues of gold mining to compensate the loss of two thirds of its oil production following the separation of South Sudan in 2011.