The Swiss aid and advocacy organization SwissAid has determined through its research that African small mines and artisans annually produce gold worth 35 billion dollars, which remains unreported.
The gold is then smuggled out of Africa, which is the largest producer of this precious metal in the world. In 2022 alone, 435 tons of gold worth 30.7 billion dollars were smuggled from this continent. It is claimed that most of that gold, between 80 and 85 percent, ends up in the United Arab Emirates.
Most of Africa’s industrial gold, which accounts for 11 percent of total gold produced, is exported to South Africa, Switzerland and India, and is used in medicine and in the technology, automotive, aerospace and defense industries.
When it comes to African gold produced in small mines and artisanal workshops as well as industrial gold, in 2022 the Emirates, Switzerland and India led the way in its import. More precisely, 80 percent of African gold was exported to the mentioned countries, of which 47 percent refers to exports to the UAE.
Undeclared gold is gold that has not been declared or declared for export. Most of the gold is declared only when it is exported from Africa to another country, i.e. only then does it become legal.
SwissAid pointed out that when this precious metal is declared in a country like the UAE, it can be legally exported to other countries, and the laws of those countries are very often lax when it comes to determining the real origin of gold.
In Switzerland, the last location of gold processing is considered the place of its origin. So if the gold was exported from the Emirates, then this country will be considered its origin even though it actually originated from another country, reports CNBC.
