African gold worth billions of dollars smuggled - report

Gold worth $35 billion produced by artisanal and small-scale mining in Africa, the world's largest bullion producing continent, goes undeclared and is then smuggled abroad, a report published by SwissAid, a Swiss aid and advocacy organization, claims.

According to the NGO, a total of 435 tonnes of gold was smuggled out of Africa in 2022 alone.  

According to SwissAid, the destination countries have poor regulations when it comes to discerning the actual origins of the metal. The UAE Ministry of Economy says that the government cannot be responsible for other countries' export data, only its own. The Emirates said it has advanced technology and systems in place to track and authenticate its own data. The ministry also emphasized that the UAE has implemented measures to prevent money laundering in the gold sector.

Meanwhile, according to NGOs, the revenues from smuggling African gold continue to fuel conflict and fund criminal and terrorist networks. The illegally traded metal comes from 12 states on the Black Continent, with most of it coming from Mali, Ghana and Zimbabwe.

The authors of the study analyzed gold production and trade in all 54 African countries over more than 10 years. The aim of the work, they say, is to expose unfair practices and lack of oversight by governments and stakeholders. They also hope to bring about better regulation of the industry. “Governments should no longer cover themselves with a lack of or poor quality data and thus justify their inaction,” said Marc Ummel, head of raw materials at SwissAid and co-author of the study. - They need to take responsibility, in particular by strengthening controls and working to formalize the sector.”

 Hélène Tarin, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished