Guinea shipped the first bars produced on its territory by Nimba Gold Refinery on 9 October, according to sector officials quoted by the Guinean press. This first shipment follows the authorities' decision to favour local refining of gold.
The quantity sent abroad has not been made public, Ecofinance Guinée reports. The operation thus marks the start of an export activity for refined gold, although it does not yet allow its weight in domestic sales or the revenue it has generated to be measured.
President Mamadi Doumbouya set this direction at a meeting with sector players on 19 June. The presidency had then presented processing on site as a way to keep more value in the Guinean economy, rather than exporting the metal to be treated abroad.
Based at Gbessia, in the Conakry urban area, the refinery is meant to serve this industrial project. The authorities include it in their Simandou 2040 programme, which links the extraction of mineral resources to the development of processing activities.
Beyond refining, the procedure relies on identifying lots and certifying the metal. Ibrahima Sory Conté, head of Guinea's precious materials expertise body, stressed the need to control and document gold before it leaves the country, in statements reported by VisionGuinée.
Mamadou Sylla, director of precious materials at the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea, said his institution takes part in this certification alongside the expertise body and customs. According to him, the new export procedure now requires gold to pass through refining.