Ethiopia latest African nation to open gold refinery in push to retain profits

Ethiopia has launched its first gold refinery, a $50 million joint venture aimed at turning the East African nation into a regional processing hub for precious metals, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said over the weekend.

Gold exports are one of Ethiopia's main sources of foreign exchange, earning the country $5.6 billion last year, according to government data.

African nations are shifting away from exporting raw resources and are actively advancing domestic value addition.

Burkina Faso, one of Africa biggest gold exporters, opened its first gold refinery last month, while Mali has said it was building a gold refinery together with a Russian company. Côte d'Ivoire announced it would open one next year.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy said the new refinery would process gold from Ethiopia and elsewhere. It has a capacity to process over 600 tonnes of precious metals annually, he said.

‘Eliminating need to export’

"It enables neighbouring countries and regional mining companies to bring their gold to Ethiopia for advanced refining, certification, value addition, and sale, eliminating the need to export it outside the continent," Abiy Ahmed said in a post on social media platform X on Saturday.

The refinery will provide services including melting, testing, refining, casting, bar minting and die-making.

The initial investment in the refinery is $50 million, with state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings taking a majority stake, Abiy said.