The rush to build small-scale gold refineries in Africa
The refineries offer miners and states a way to extract value from their own mineral wealth rather than just exporting raw commodities
15 January 2020 - 12:58
Entebbe — In a refinery just outside Uganda’s main airport, workers slip bars of freshly refined gold into clear plastic bags sealed with a sticker of the national flag — black, yellow and red — and the label “Ugandan’s Treasure”.
Uganda produces little gold of its own. Alain Goetz, who set up the refinery, says that by branding gold from abroad as Ugandan, the operation is merely imitating others — for example, the Swiss don’t mine the gold they refine in Switzerland...
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