Gold refining in Uganda: refining licences, accreditation and what a buyer should check

What refining in Uganda means for a buyer

A refinery stamp from Uganda carries no accreditation that the main bullion markets recognise. LBMA states that only refiners whose bars it has accredited as meeting its standards for the global over-the-counter market appear on its Good Delivery List, and no Ugandan refiner is on it. None is on the UAE Good Delivery list either. So a buyer, or the buyer's own refiner, should expect to weigh, sample and assay a Ugandan bar on arrival and to settle on the assayed gold content, not on the stamp. Any discount for that work, and for re-refining if the gold is to be sold into an accredited market, belongs in the contract before payment. The refining process and the assay pages explain how a lot is sampled and settled.

Refining in Uganda does not answer the origin question. Uganda recorded about 62 tonnes of gold exports in 2025, far above any official figure for its own mines, and United Nations experts assessed the rise as largely attributable to gold originating in the Congo. A bar refined in Uganda may be made from gold mined in Uganda, imported lawfully for refining, or neither. The stamp does not say which. See Uganda's production and export figures and the origin hub.

Who is licensed to refine gold in Uganda

The Mining and Minerals Act 2022 prohibits processing, smelting, refining or trading in minerals, or possessing commercial quantities of them, without a licence (s.121). A refiner must export at purity levels prescribed by regulations (s.130), and every consignment leaving Uganda needs its own export permit (s.150). The copy of Uganda's 2024 export regulations we reviewed states a minimum of 99.9% gold for exports (S.I. 30 of 2024, regulation 3) and a levy of USD 200 per kilogram on processed gold (regulation 2). We have not confirmed that they are currently in force. The regulation hub sets out the whole export route.

The mining directorate publishes a list of active dealer and refining licences. On 31 October 2026 it showed 223 entries: 214 dealer, 8 refining and 1 test record. All 8 refining licences give the commodity as gold. We do not reproduce the holders' names: a list here would read as a recommendation, and we have checked none far enough to make one.

A licence is a licence class. It is not evidence that the holder refines anything, exports anything or can supply you. The mineral dealer's licence guide explains the dealer side of the same list.

Accreditation: no Ugandan refinery is on either list

Seller websites sometimes describe a Ugandan refinery as "LBMA approved", "LBMA accredited" or "internationally certified". On the dates above, no Ugandan refiner was on either list. Treat such a claim as a reason to stop, and check the LBMA list and the UAE Good Delivery membership list yourself rather than a certificate the seller supplies. A refiner's own assay report is not an accreditation. Our page on refined gold bars explains what a Good Delivery bar is.

The sanctions record

On 17 March 2022 the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated African Gold Refinery Limited, also known as African Gold Refinery Uganda, of Sebugwawo Road, Entebbe, with Uganda registration number 180334, under its Democratic Republic of the Congo programme, together with Alain Francois Viviane Goetz and eight other companies in the United Arab Emirates, the Seychelles and Belgium. The Treasury press release of the same day says that Goetz "operates the African Gold Refinery (AGR) in Uganda" and that "AGR and Goetz acknowledged that a share of the gold AGR refines comes directly from mines in the DRC". The action was taken under Executive Order 13413, as amended by Executive Order 13671. The US Africa Gold Advisory of June 2023 describes the action as a designation for the illicit movement of hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of gold and for contributing to violence and instability in the DRC.

We found no delisting. Both names were on the SDN list file we downloaded on 2 November 2026, and a trade publication reported in June 2025 that a court had turned down Goetz's challenge to the sanctions. None of that replaces your own check: run the names on the current list on the day you contract and again before each payment. We name this refinery only because the designation is an official record, and we say nothing about any other refiner's connection to it.

A clear result holds only for the names searched on that date. A refinery that changes its name, or trades through a related company abroad, needs a new search. Our five due-diligence checks and export documents pages set out the rest of the file.

Questions to put to any Ugandan refiner

The Uganda gold suppliers page covers the seller side of the same checks.

Where Uganda Gold Report stands

Uganda Gold Report is developing documented gold-sourcing routes and welcomes enquiries from qualified international buyers. Product availability, specifications, seller authority and export eligibility are subject to independent verification and applicable regulatory approvals.

We have no relationship with any refinery, hold no stock and hold no Ugandan licence, and we do not recommend any refiner. If you have a genuine requirement, send us your form, fineness, quantity and destination, and we reply with what can and cannot be quoted at this stage. See also how buying gold from Uganda works.