Guinean President Mamadi Doumbouya has announced an immediate ban on raw gold exports, requiring all gold produced in the country to be processed domestically before being sold abroad. The move is intended to increase local value addition, create jobs, and strengthen the national economy. Speaking to industrial and artisanal gold producers, Doumbouya said the West African nation’s vast reserves had long been exported unrefined, with processing and beneficiation happening elsewhere. He directed that, going forward, gold must be refined into certified ingots at a newly established facility in the capital, Conakry, before export. Doumbouya then warned that operators who fail to comply risk losing their licenses and mining agreements. Guinea, already the world’s top bauxite producer, ranks as Africa’s sixth-largest gold producer.
Bloomberg
