JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - South Africa's Rand Refinery has donated 10 kg of silver, valued at about $10 000, to a university in Ghana, as part of a drive to promote jewellery beneficiation in Africa.

This is the first-ever silver donation to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi, and the first donation that Rand Refinery made outside South Africa.

Rand Refinery head of sourcing and logistics Chris Horsley said in an interview that the donation would contribute to the cooperation between Ghana and South Africa in the field of higher education by offering practical support to students taking the jewellery and silversmithing degree course.

Rand Refinery currently refines about 80% of Africa's gold, with 41% sourced from outside South Africa. Ghana has been the refinery's biggest and longest-standing customer in West Africa.

"Currently, there is a lot of debate around African countries wanting to do their own refining. However, it is not as simple as that. Refining is not just about refining the metals; it also includes financing, marketing and logistics to get these products to the market.

"With this donation, and other similar opportunities to come, Rand Refinery aims to raise its profile on the continent," Horsley tells Mining Weekly Online,

He added that the refinery recognised the important contribution precious metals beneficiation could make to socioeconomic upliftment and sustainable development in Africa.

Rand Refinery has collaborated in a similar manner with a number of institutions that undertake skills development in South Africa. This donation, therefore, serves as an extension of the company's commitment to precious metals beneficiation in selected Ghanaian educational institutions engaged in training in jewellery design and manufacture.

The programme, run by the metal product design section at the university, was selected following the recommendation of the department by the Ghana Chamber of Mines.