Gold price in Uganda: how gold from Uganda is priced

The benchmark

The LBMA Gold Price is set twice each London business day, morning and afternoon, in US dollars per troy ounce, in auctions run by ICE Benchmark Administration. One kilogram is 32.1507 troy ounces. Prices in Uganda, in shillings, follow the same international price; the Bank of Uganda's domestic purchase programme is reported to pay the prevailing international price.

Gold price per kilogram: from benchmark to value

Value = weight in troy ounces × fineness × LBMA price. A worked example at the LBMA afternoon price on 11 September 2026, USD 4,386.25 an ounce. This is a calculation, not a quote.

The differential

A quote states the LBMA price it uses and a differential, expressed per ounce or as a percentage. The differential reflects:

• Bar standard. Non-Good-Delivery bars, including all current Ugandan bars, are assayed on arrival and priced accordingly. Buyers do not publish the discounts they apply.
• Delivery point and Incoterm. Who pays secure freight and insurance, and where risk passes.
• Payment terms. When and how payment is made affects the differential; the payment structure is agreed per transaction.
• Lot size and frequency. Fixed costs per shipment weigh more on small lots.
• Ugandan export costs. An export levy of USD 200 per kilogram is reported (about 0.14%). DGSM also lists an export-permit fee of 1% of the prevailing price (Official, DGSM export permit procedure). We have not found the current royalty rate charged on gold.

Doré

Refiners credit a mine with an agreed share of the gold measured in the doré, after melting and assay, and charge per ounce and per shipment. In contracts filed publicly, the share credited was 99.85% to 99.95% of the gold, with charges of about USD 0.40 to 0.65 an ounce. Those are dated mine-to-refiner terms, not what a trader would offer. Gold doré: valuation and assay.

Why a deep discount is a warning sign

Because refined gold and doré sell close to the value of the gold they contain, an honest seller has no ordinary reason to offer a large discount. The Financial Action Task Force describes a suspected fraud pitched as a "major gold deal" at 4% below the London Gold Fix. Offers far below the benchmark, or requests for fees before delivery, are a recurring pattern in reported Uganda gold scams. Scams and supplier checks.

What a quote from us will state

Form, fineness, weight and format; the LBMA price used and the differential; Incoterm and delivery point; delivery window; payment terms; the documents included; and the assay terms. An indicative basis holds for the day. A firm price is fixed against an agreed LBMA price on an agreed date. No supply route is in place yet, so no price can be quoted today; this is the basis on which a quote would be written.