Beitrag vom 27.06.2023

US Department of State

Africa Gold Advisory

JUNE 27, 2023

Executive Summary

The U.S. Departments of State, the Treasury, Commerce, Homeland Security, Labor, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are issuing this Advisory in light of increasingly concerning reporting related to the role of illicit actors in the gold trade, including the Wagner Group, to (i) highlight the opportunities and specific risks raised by the gold trade across sub-Saharan Africa and (ii) encourage industry participants to adopt and apply strengthened due diligence practices to ensure that such malign actors are unable to exploit and benefit from the sector, which remains essential to the livelihoods of millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa.

The gold sector is critical to the economies and communities of many sub-Saharan African countries. Building on the U.S. Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa, this Advisory encourages U.S. businesses to consider responsible investment in all aspects of the sector in Africa: mining, trading, refining, manufacturing, and retail of key end products. At the same time, there are numerous risks that are directly and indirectly connected to the mining, refining, trading, and selling of gold. Without adequate due diligence and appropriate mitigating measures, an industry participant may inadvertently contribute to one or more of these risks, including conflict and terror financing, money laundering activities, sanctions evasion, human rights and labor rights abuses and environmental degradation.

While these concerns have been well known and extensively documented for many years in certain regions, such as South and North Kivu and Ituri provinces in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), newer risks in areas such as Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali, and elsewhere in connection with the Wagner Group have made clear the need for this Advisory. The U.S. government is committed to addressing the relationship between gold and the illicit revenue streams that contribute to and fund conflicts, corruption, and other concerns in sub-Saharan Africa. This includes development programs, sanctions actions directed at actors throughout the gold supply chain, and financial and business risk advisories.

In recent decades, the international community has made important progress toward addressing these concerns by helping industry participants identify, evaluate, and reduce risks, particularly downstream in key trading and refining centers for gold from sub-Saharan Africa such as the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland. This Advisory is not intended to replace existing due diligence guidelines, processes, or underlying reports, but rather to provide a streamlined resource that amplifies and encourages more transparent public reporting by companies implementing them.

Notwithstanding this progress, malign actors continue to exploit vulnerabilities in the gold supply chain across sub-Saharan Africa, in some cases with relative ease. Local armed groups in several conflict-affected regions have used the gold trade to finance their activities for decades, and armed entities hostile to U.S. interests are also increasing their presence in sub-Saharan Africa’s gold trade. These groups include jihadists, some with links to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State,[2] as well as the Wagner Group of mercenaries under the leadership of Yevgeny Prigozhin. Gold’s role as a store of value and currency, in addition to being a material used in other supply chains, further exacerbates these challenges. Industry participants should be prepared for increased U.S. government attention to the relationship between gold and these groups’ revenue streams and should be prepared for the possibility that U.S. sanctions could be used to disrupt these groups’ operations.

U.S. individuals and entities engaged with the gold sector—whether as miners, traders, refiners, exporters, users, consumers, financial institutions, or otherwise—should carefully review the risks described in this Advisory and ensure they conduct enhanced due diligence to address these risks, as appropriate and necessary. Further, they should consider, address, and report publicly on their efforts related to these risks where possible.

At the same time, U.S. persons should also explore opportunities for responsible investment in the African gold sector, including through large-scale projects and direct commercial opportunities support for the sustainable development of artisanal and small-scale mining, and due diligence innovations that enable commercially viable artisanal gold exports. Companies and U.S. persons are also encouraged to join multi-stakeholder initiatives that address these risks and release data on the impact of their individual efforts. Through these and other efforts, responsible industry participants can reduce risks and increase responsible opportunities associated with the gold industry in sub-Saharan Africa.

The key recommendations discussed in this Advisory include:

Individuals and entities engaged in the gold sector across the African continent in countries or sub-national regions where corruption may be a concern should be aware of the risks associated with doing business with corrupt actors, including potentially facilitating money laundering, the violation of economic sanctions, or other financial crimes related to corruption;
Individuals and entities doing business with the gold sector in conflict-affected countries across sub-Saharan Africa should conduct specific due diligence with respect to local communities to avoid commercial risks related to relevant red flags and reputational risks associated with contributing to conflict violence;
Individuals and entities engaged in the gold sector across the continent in countries or localities where corruption may be a concern should be aware of the risks associated with smuggling, including potentially facilitating the violation of economic sanctions, tax evasion, money laundering or other financial crimes related to smuggling;
Individuals and entities should conduct specific due diligence with respect to labor and human rights abuses to avoid commercial risks related to relevant red flags from responsible sourcing initiatives and reputational risks associated with contributing to these harms;
Individuals and entities should conduct specific due diligence with respect to environmental concerns, including mercury, cyanide, and deforestation;
Individuals and entities engaged in downstream purchases of recycled gold must ensure that they conduct due diligence on such purchases to determine whether recyclers may be introducing mined gold from sanctioned, conflict-affected, or other high-risk sources;
Individuals and entities should review available anti-money laundering typology reports carefully, including several referenced in this Advisory, in particular the lists of red flags associated with gold trading and refining, in order to identify the specific ones potentially applicable to their business. The red flags in such typology reports should be integrated into compliance programs, as appropriate, in order to avoid reputational and commercial risks related to doing business with those engaged in money laundering and terrorist financing, including violating sanctions, or prosecution for these financial crimes; and
Individuals and entities that conduct business with, materially assist, sponsor, or provide financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to, or in support of a sanctioned individual or entity may expose themselves to an array of consequences, such as potential designations, civil penalties, or other legal actions.
In sum, the combined objective and action expected from this Advisory is to encourage U.S. industry participants to invest responsibly in the gold sector in sub-Saharan Africa while strengthening due diligence practices and transparency in order to further restrict the ability of malign actors to exploit and profit from the sector. To that end, this Advisory proceeds in four parts.[3] Part I summarizes the opportunity that the gold industry in sub-Saharan Africa represents. Part II discusses the risks associated with the gold industry on the continent, focusing first on the “upstream” extraction-related risks, and then turning to the “downstream” risks associated with value chains and distribution. Part III discusses U.S. sanctions in the context of the gold industry. Finally, Part IV discusses due diligence and best practices, focusing especially on the OECD Due Diligence Guidance adopted in 2011. The Annexes provide additional detail on existing sanctions and ongoing development projects.