Sell gold dust.
From raw material to international buyer.

Selling gold dust — what is different

Gold in bar or cast slab form can move directly to an independent assay laboratory, obtain a purity certificate, and proceed through export customs as a fully characterised commodity. Gold dust — the fine particulate output of alluvial panning or artisanal hard-rock crushing — cannot follow this path without an intermediate step: consolidation and processing into a form that can be precisely assayed and weighed to international bullion standards.

Institutional buyers, including our active Malaysian mandate holder, require gold in bar or slab form with an assay certificate from a recognised laboratory. This is a compliance requirement, not a preference. The buyer's correspondent bank will not release funds against a shipment of raw dust, because the weight and purity cannot be independently verified without a formal assay of the processed output.

This does not mean your dust cannot be sold internationally. It means you need to work with a licensed local processor or consolidator who will smelt your dust into bar or slab form, obtain an assay certificate for the output, and document the relationship between the raw input and the processed output. In most African gold-producing countries, such licensed processors exist and operate under the supervision of the mining ministry or central bank. The processing cost is typically deducted from the sale proceeds and is modest relative to the value of the gold.

The critical distinction is that the processor must be licensed and the processing must be documented. An informal arrangement — paying a local goldsmith to melt and cast your dust — does not produce the provenance record that an international buyer's compliance team can accept. The chain of custody must be traceable from source to processed bar.

The documentation pathway for artisanal gold

Formalising artisanal gold output for export involves three sequential stages, each producing a document that feeds the next.

Formal licensing. In most jurisdictions, artisanal and small-scale miners must hold a valid ASM licence (or equivalent local designation) issued by the competent mining authority. Operating without a licence means your gold has no legal provenance — it cannot be exported through formal channels regardless of its physical quality. If you do not yet have a licence, applying for one is the necessary first step; the process varies by country but is generally accessible to individuals and small cooperatives.

Local assay and consolidation. Once licensed, your dust must be submitted to a licensed assay office or government-approved processor for smelting, casting, and purity certification. The output is a numbered bar or slab with a certified weight and fineness. This document is the foundation of every subsequent step in the export chain.

Mineral export permit. With an assay certificate in hand, you can apply to the relevant government authority for a mineral export permit. The permit specifies the weight, purity, and destination of the shipment and must match the assay certificate precisely.

Several African countries operate government-run purchasing bureaus that formalise artisanal output and can serve as an alternative to private consolidators. Ethiopia's National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) purchases artisanal gold directly. Zimbabwe's Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) is the sole legal buyer of artisanal gold in that country and issues export documentation. Ghana's Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) provides similar services for Ghanaian miners. If you operate in one of these countries, engaging the government bureau is often the most straightforward path to export-ready documentation.

What we can do if your dust is not yet formalised

If you have significant volume of gold dust but have not yet completed the formalisation process, we encourage you to contact us anyway. We will not be able to connect you with our institutional buyer until your supply is documented — that is a non-negotiable compliance requirement for any legitimate international transaction. But we can do something genuinely useful at the earlier stage: advise you on the specific formalisation pathway that applies in your country.

The formalisation process differs meaningfully between jurisdictions. The relevant licensing body, the approved consolidators or government bureaus, the timeline for export permit issuance, the cost structure — all of this varies by country. We have worked with sellers in Ghana, Mali, Sudan, DRC, Tanzania, and several other African gold-producing jurisdictions and have a practical understanding of the compliance landscape in each.

We can pre-qualify your supply. Tell us your country of operation, your estimated monthly volume, and your current licensing status. We will tell you exactly which steps remain before your gold is export-ready and how long those steps typically take. When you reach that point, we can connect you with our active buyer mandate and support the transaction through to close.

We do not charge sellers for guidance or for the transaction. We do not ask for advance fees, photographs of gold, or soft proof of product at the pre-qualification stage. We ask only for accurate information about your supply and your documentation status, so we can give you accurate guidance in return.