Conakry, Guinea — Guinea is moving to tighten control over its gold sector with a new regulatory framework requiring locally produced gold to be refined in-country and introducing a national digital platform designed to improve traceability from mine to market.
Under new measures announced by the Ministry of Mines and Geology on 5 October, gold produced from industrial, semi-industrial and mechanized artisanal operations must be delivered to approved refineries operating in Guinea. Licensed gold-buying counters will also be required to have gold originating from artisanal and mechanized artisanal mining refined through approved domestic facilities.
The policy represents a significant shift from a primarily production-focused approach toward greater domestic value capture, formalisation and supply-chain control. By requiring refining within Guinea, the government aims to retain more value from the country's gold production, develop local refining capacity and strengthen oversight of gold flows.
A key component of the new framework is the Plateforme Intégrée Nationale de Traçabilité de l’Or (PINTO). The digital platform is intended to assign a unique identifier to each gold lot and provide end-to-end visibility from extraction through processing and ultimately to the market.
For mining companies, traders and refiners, this could materially change operational and compliance requirements. Operators will face tighter obligations covering transaction declarations, record keeping, chain-of-custody documentation and reporting of suspicious transactions. Refineries will be required to maintain traceability of incoming gold and issue refining and assay certificates within a maximum of three days.
The framework also places Guinea's gold trade more explicitly within international responsible-sourcing standards. Market participants will be expected to demonstrate compliance with OECD due-diligence principles and relevant London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) requirements, including controls designed to prevent gold linked to conflict, money laundering or terrorist financing from entering legitimate supply chains.
Institutionally, PINTO will be technically managed by the Office Guinéen d’Expertise, d’Évaluation et de Certification (OGED) under an inter-agency steering committee chaired by the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Mines. The committee brings together key institutions including the Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea, Customs, the anti-fraud authorities and the National Geology Laboratory.
The new rules could strengthen Guinea's position as a more formal and transparent gold-producing jurisdiction, while creating additional compliance and logistics requirements for operators. The effectiveness of the reform will ultimately depend on the availability and capacity of accredited refineries, the reliability of PINTO, and efficient coordination among regulators.
For mining companies and gold traders, traceability is increasingly becoming a market-access requirement rather than simply a regulatory obligation. Guinea's latest measures therefore signal a broader effort to bring the country's gold industry closer to international responsible-sourcing standards while capturing a larger share of the value generated within the national economy.
Share on social media
-
