With major mining companies having come under pressure to demonstrate that their practices are responsible and, with transparency in the gold mining sector being necessary to aid companies’ reputations and credibility, precious metals refinery and smelting company Rand Refinery believes that more upsides and enhancements in productivity, culture and morale surface when transparency is embraced as a journey, rather than a destination.

“We have a century-long tradition of putting people, product and the planet first and are known to exercise the highest level of rigour well beyond the London Bullion Market Association [LBMA] requirements,” says Rand Refinery CEO Praveen Baijnath.

Accredited by the LBMA, Rand Refinery is a gold and silver refiner and the only referee status refiner in the southern hemisphere.

“Throughout our history, we have contributed to building a robust mine-to-market value chain in Africa. This is evident in the number of geographically spread mines we source from that trust us with gold doré and whose economies directly benefit from the mined gold.

“The role of LBMA-accredited refineries with sound sourcing practices should be more appreciated in this regard,” he argues.

This mindset has allowed Rand Refinery to study the strata and interconnections among role players and contribute to further strengthening sourcing and appropriate due diligence practices in Africa.

The rigour of production standards at Rand Refinery is matched by the stringency of its sourcing protocols, which are implemented at every level of the operation, according to the refiner.

Rand Refinery is committed to, and contributes towards, setting internationally accepted responsible sourcing practices, and is in conformance with the LBMA Responsible Gold & Silver Guidance and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals.

In 2017, Rand Refinery became a signatory to the Global Precious Metals Code, which sets out the standards and best practices expected from market participants in the global over-the-counter (OTC) wholesale precious metals market.

Rand Refinery notes that refineries must have a detailed understanding of the mines or sources that make up its supply chain.

“Our volume of due diligence puts pressure on suppliers to improve practices and is a deterrent to anyone that wants to contaminate our supply chain,” adds Baijnath, noting that Rand Refinery is “extremely circumspect” about recycled or secondary gold sources and contamination with illicit sources.

“Rand Refinery has refused to participate in processing secondary material sources that do not have a known provenance audit trail demonstrating auditable source. Our sourcing specialists visit the local mines frequently, including in Africa, and in some instances, approved outsourced partners conduct the site visit,” he says.

All companies dealing with Rand Refinery must undergo strict vetting processes. This ensures that everyone adheres to the responsible gold guidance principles.

“By better understanding our suppliers, we can also improve their ability to identify and mitigate potential non-compliant sources.