Reputable refineries and companies are careful about doing any business with any gold suppliers in Africa for many reasons.
Conflict gold, gold that is mined using either the extreme destitute, child labor, or even slavery and then traded for weapons so that there is no paper trail, similar to what is done with conflict diamonds. Because some of these weapons make their way into the hands of people the US and other Governments around the world consider terrorists, you have to be very very careful in dealing with any of the entities. Checking with the US State Department is always a good idea whenever dealing with any of these countries.
Illegal processing of e-waste is another source of what some West African scam artists call "gold dust". It isn't mined at all, but instead, precipitated as fine sand, the same processes those of us on the forum use to refine gold. Because this gold comes from sources that are not only illegal but also polluting the environment, reputable companies don't want to support people selling this type of material.
Scam artists abound, who wants to take the risk that the material assayed in some West African country, shows up at the refinery ending up being 99% sand and other material not gold?
These are just a few examples of why companies would not want to do business with gold sellers in Africa, specially West Africa.
The issue about a certificate of origin I believe has to do with where the gold is refined, not from which country the gold originated in it's raw form from. This is different with diamonds as they are not transformed nor refined but rather cut. I believe in some countries in order for a certificate of origin to be issued, the material had to be turned into a salable product or commodity which includes using labor in that particular country. For example, here in the United States, you can stamp "assembled in the USA" on the side of a product, and ship it as if it was manufactured in the USA to another country we have a free trade agreement with, circumventing the requirement to pay certain tariffs and taxes. But the fact is, that "Assembled in the USA", only means it was assembled here. Literally this could mean that every part was made in a country such as China, then shipped into the US and "assembled". So long as US labor was used in putting it together, it now can be sold as assembled in the USA and enjoy those laws that benefit it. By bringing the product into the US as "to be assembled in the USA" you also avoid taxes and tariffs.
I once shipped 500 game systems into the US from China and shipped in two parts easily put back together. I legally was able to ship it into the US this way without paying taxes, then assembled them myself, shipped them to Jordan which we have a free trade agreement with and had stenciled on the side of the boxes "Assembled in the USA", and sticker that stated "Assembled in the USA" on the system which made them worth more in Jordan. As I write this right now, I find I'm not proud of the fact I did this, I did not understand politics, economics nor ethics of what I was doing, I simply wanted to make a profit and be successful. But it is commonly done, and there are no laws governing it or anything else that makes it illegal.
The person asking about refining may be attempting to wash the stench of the gold coming from African from the gold itself. They could be attempting to refine and then sell the gold to an entity in another country they already have set up as a buyer, who conducts themselves in a relatively moral manor and does not accept gold directly from certain places so as not to support certain governments, terrorists or labor issues. It could be that they are purchasing from an entity that does not provide a certificate of origin because they are artisanal miners and do not have the ability to do so. In certain places of the world, artisanal miners are required to sell their gold to a government entity, yet they can sometimes make more selling to individuals who then fly or ship it out of the country. The Philippines is one such place. The only entity you can legitimately purchase gold from in the Philippines, is a government agency.
There could be many different reasons for wanting to find a refinery who can also provide documents of origin, most of them seemingly shady reasons. But remember, I could purchase jewelry from all over the world, fly to Hong Kong and have the gold refined and returned to me as a refined product, and require a certificate of origin so I can legally bring it back into the United States. Or I can purchase e-waste from all over the world and decide that to have it refined in Hong Kong would be the closest and safest, do so and obtain a certificate of origin to be able to ship it back into the United States. All these would be legitimate transactions, and also require certificates of origin.
I would tend to think because of the proposed origin of the gold, and the fact they want to ship it all the way to Hong Kong, and then propose to have it shipped back out, that this is being done for less than honest reasons, but I could also be totally wrong about it.
I am more concerned that the person attempting to conduct this transaction, that being to purchase gold from an African origin, is only really another broker who believes they have a line on a quantity of gold originating from an African nation which is really just another scam being played on another broker who sees dollar signs and really has no idea what they are getting themselves into.
To the moderators, what would be the chance of setting up a separate section for brokers, to set specific standards and requirements before they could post their prospects so that these types of posts could be curbed or at least contained in one area and more easily dealt with?
Scott
