Russian Joint Venture Gold Refinery in Mali Looking to Attain ‘Good Delivery’ Status

Russia’s Yadran Group, an investor in Mali’s gold mining industry, laid the cornerstone for a new gold refinery in Bamako on June 16. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 18 months, after which the refinery will go into operation and gradually achieve a design capacity of 100 tonnes of gold per annum in the first phase, with the option for expanding this to 200 tonnes per year.

Yadran Group said most of the gold ore will come from Malian mining companies, although the possibility of sourcing gold from other countries in Africa’s Sahel region is also being considered. The project operator is Soroma SA, which is 62% owned by the Malian government. The other 38% of shares are controlled by Yadran Group and its strategic partners.

Mali’s Ministry of Mines has said that the refinery project is the result of cooperation between Mali and Russia through Yadran and a Swiss investment company. Mali is one of the largest gold producers in Africa.

Yadran Group’s main business is the production, refining, and sales of crude oil and oil products and the processing of oil waste. The group also includes a biopolymer plant, a dairy plant, and a construction company that specializes in civil construction and building facilities for the oil and gas sector.

The Bamako gold refinery Russia’s Yadran Group is constructing is being built to meet the standards needed to qualify for Good Delivery status. Good Delivery gold refers to gold bars that achieve the strict quality and specifications established by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Good Delivery List. This set of standards outlines requirements that gold and silver bars must meet in order to be accepted for delivery in the London bullion market.

Yadran has stated that “The goal of the project is full compliance with the standards needed to obtain Good Delivery status. We are incorporating all technological and organizational solutions, taking into account the requirements for this type of certification. This issue is one of our priorities.”