Buyer resources
What we know, written down
These are the guides we would want to read if we were the buyer: how Kenyan gold export is licensed and documented, how purity is actually established, how a cross-border transaction is structured and settled, what due diligence looks like in practice, and how the fraud in this region works. They are written to be useful whether or not you ever transact with us.
Kenya
How the Kenyan gold trade is regulated, documented and exported.
- Read the guide
9 min read
How to source gold from Kenya
How does an overseas buyer source gold from Kenya without getting it wrong?
Sourcing gold from Kenya legitimately means transacting with a counterparty who holds a mineral dealer's licence, taking delivery against an independent assay rather than a seller's own figure, and exporting under a permit issued by the Ministry of Mining with the customs and tax documentation that permit depends on. Almost every failed transaction we see failed at one of those three points.
- Read the guide
7 min read
The Kenya gold export process, document by document
What paperwork does a legitimate Kenyan gold export produce, and how do I check it?
A compliant Kenyan gold export is authorised by a permit from the Ministry of Mining, supported by a dealer's licence, an assay certificate and tax compliance, and completed through customs with an export declaration, certificate of origin, invoice, packing list, insurance certificate and airway bill. The documents reference each other, which is what makes a fabricated file detectable.
- Read the guide
6 min read
Gold sourcing in Nairobi: what international buyers should know
Why does a Kenyan gold transaction happen in Nairobi, and what does the city provide?
Gold is mined in western Kenya, but the transaction happens in Nairobi because that is where the regulator, the tax authority, the banks, the laboratories, the insured vaulting and the intercontinental air freight are. A buyer sourcing from Kenya is, in practice, contracting into Nairobi's institutional infrastructure rather than into a mine.
Buyer due diligence
Verification, assay, transaction structure and fraud avoidance.
- Read the guide
8 min read
A due diligence checklist for sourcing gold from Africa
What should I verify before transacting with an African gold supplier?
Due diligence on an African gold supply chain has five layers: who the counterparty legally is, what they are licensed to do, where the material came from, what it actually assays at, and how money moves. A supplier who is comfortable with all five is a different proposition from one who is comfortable with the first two.
- Read the guide
7 min read
Questions to ask an African gold supplier
What should I ask a gold supplier, and what does a good answer sound like?
The useful questions are the ones a legitimate supplier can answer immediately and a fraudulent one cannot answer consistently: who is the exporter of record, which laboratory assays, whose account receives payment, and what happens if the assay disagrees. Vagueness on these four is disqualifying on its own.
- Read the guide
6 min read
How gold purity is verified, and what each method actually proves
How is gold purity established, and which method should settlement be based on?
Fire assay is the reference method and the appropriate basis for settlement because it measures the whole sample destructively. X-ray fluorescence is a fast surface screen and is what plated or clad fraud is designed to defeat. Specific gravity and ultrasonic testing detect a foreign core. A serious transaction uses screening on site and fire assay or refinery outturn for value.
- Read the guide
7 min read
How international gold transactions are structured
What does the commercial structure of a cross-border gold purchase look like?
A cross-border gold transaction is priced off a public benchmark plus or minus a differential, delivered on agreed Incoterms, and settled against a verifiable event — usually the destination refinery's outturn or presentation of documents under a bank instrument. Structures where funds move ahead of verification are the ones that fail.
- Read the guide
7 min read
Recognising gold fraud in East Africa
How do gold scams in Kenya and East Africa work, and how do I avoid becoming a target?
The regional fake-gold fraud follows a stable script: an introduction offering gold below market, a period of relationship-building in expensive settings, a genuine sample, forged permits and laboratory reports, and a sequence of fees to release a consignment that never exists. It depends entirely on the buyer paying before independent verification. Reverse that order and the script fails.
Africa
Where Kenya sits in continental supply, and what that means for provenance.
Hong Kong
Considerations specific to buyers importing into Hong Kong.
Next step
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Monday to Friday, 08:00–17:00 East Africa Time (UTC+3)