NGO condemns Swiss refiner over African gold imports

The Swiss-based refiner Valcambi has been criticized in a new report for allegedly importing gold from Togo, processed in artisanal mines employing children in neighboring Burkina Faso. A report by the Berne Declaration non-governmental organization published on Thursday claimed the Ticino-based refiner, Valcambi, imported seven tonnes of the precious metal in 2014 from Togo, a non-producing country. The gold was allegedly smuggled from Burkina Faso, where children and adults worked “under abysmal conditions”. The report, entitled “A Golden Racket”, claimed the metal was smuggled to the country’s capital, before being purchased by a subsidiary of the Ammar Group, a conglomerate owned by a Lebanese family. The company’s Geneva-based branch, MM Multitrade, then imported the gold to Switzerland and sold it to the refiner, the NGO said. Export taxes on gold are lower in Togo than in Burkina Faso. In Burkina Faso’s artisanal mines, approximately 30-50% of the labour ...