African Gold Refinery Limited (AGR) is a Ugandan-based company engaged in processing of and trading in gold, focused within the East African region. AGR believes that small and medium scale mining can play a positive role in local communities and in the country. Therefore, we are extremely involved ... read morein socio-economic development such as: rural employment, school funding, public transportation, medical care and social centres.
In recent years, non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) and the International community have shed light on small scale and artisanal mining. A considerable amount of attention has been drawn to this by some armed non-state groups calling themselves rebels who were forcibly imposing illegal taxes on local mining communities to fund their armed struggles. These rebels were also coercing civilians to work for them in the mines, which did not adhere to any safety standards. Bullion coming out of these mining processes is referred to as "Conflict Gold” (CG).
Some guidelines have been issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to battle the illegal financing by such groups and to bring the trade in conflict resources to an end. AGR complies with these guidelines and endeavours to maintain the highest standards in the responsible sourcing of their metals.
Most international companies blacklist these high-risk countries to avoid buying conflict gold. These decisions together with the use of black lists by the large companies have had a devastating effect on the affected mining communities. As a result, the flow of precious metals were dealt on the black market by unscrupulous traders who generated astronomical profits for illegal consortiums and paid considerably below market price to the local diggers.
AGR and its employees are highly committed to implement the guidelines promulgated against non-state armed groups. As a result, metals categorised as "Conflict Metals” proposed for refining at AGR are prohibited. We realise that merely rejecting the conflict gold will not suffice to address the problem. Therefore we implement a Corporate Social Responsibility Programme by educating local participants.
In order to bring the local small-scale traders in conformity with the due diligence requirements imposed by the international organizations, AGR assists local miners in the conduct of their own sourcing of procured metals through license applications and stringent audits. In this way, revenue generated by artisanal mining is kept well away from rebel militias and instead is controlled by the miners themselves for the development of their communities.
AGR regulates its business activities and practices in accordance with the OECD and ICGLR guidelines, which are implemented at every level in our workplace. AGR ensures that our engagement within the mineral sector benefits the local communities as well as the country while preventing risks in the supply chain.
In pursuing a strict acceptance policy with respect to its customers and suppliers as well as obtaining the Know Your Customer (KYC) information wherein such data is made available only for our assessment by the compliance team and to government officials or concerned authorities if required, AGR believes that it will boost the public trust in our company. We exclude the proportion of 'conflict minerals’ from the market.
AGR conducts a complete transparent melting and refining process which conforms to international safety regulations. Our refining and melting process is transparent to ensure that it is environmental responsible.
