- 450 tonnes of gold worth over 25 billion $
- Processed in 2020 by refineries
- Four refineries account for 96 of the 142 business relationships identified
- The need for transparency and traceability
- According to the new SWISSAID report published on 30 March
Industrial mines as well as buying counters trade gold with refineries in Dubai, Canada and other countries around the world. However, a culture of secrecy seems to have taken root in the gold sector. For years, gold refineries have hidden behind business secrecy to keep the names of the mines they source from secret. This lack of transparency keeps the environmental and human rights issues surrounding gold mining opaque.
According to the new SWISSAID Foundation report published on 30 March 2023, some 20 refineries in South Africa, Canada, Switzerland and China had 142 business relationships with 125 industrial gold mines in Africa between 2015 and 2023.
The report states that more than 450 tonnes worth more than 23 billion Swiss francs (more than 25 billion $) were processed in 2020 through these partnerships.
It was found that African industrial gold is mainly refined in Switzerland, South Africa and, to a lesser extent, India. Four refineries based in these countries account for 96 of the 142 business relationships identified. These are the Rand Refinery owned by the major South African gold companies, Metalor (Switzerland) and the two refineries, Swiss and Indian, of the MKS Pamp group (Switzerland). There are also some Emirati and Chinese refineries involved, as well as the Fidelity Gold Refinery in Zimbabwe.
The need for transparency and traceability
In this report, the SWISSAID Foundation made several recommendations. These include the need for refineries to disclose annually the names of all mines from which they source gold and the quantities obtained. Companies should also comply with the same duty of disclosure about the refineries to which they export their production and the World Gold Council should make this a requirement for its member companies.
The countries in which these refineries are located are also concerned, as is the case in Switzerland, whose Parliament is due to debate a law on the control of precious metals this year. Marc Ummel, co-author of the report, says: “In concrete terms, this means that refineries operating in Switzerland should be subject to mandatory due diligence in terms of respect for human rights and the environment”.
Respect for the traceability of gold must be a norm in Burkina Faso, especially in the context of the security crisis. Hence the need to comply with gold standards, particularly those of Fairmined gold.
Rachid Ouedraogo
#Mines_Actu_Burkina
