Due diligence in Africa: reconciling corporate registries with physical mining assets

What is due diligence on an African mineral supplier?

Due diligence on an African mineral supplier is the set of checks that confirm a seller is who it says it is, may lawfully sell what it offers, holds those goods, and can deliver them as described. It has two halves: the record — registries, licences, ownership — and the ground — the mine, the warehouse and the material itself.

Most buyers start, and many stop, with the first half. This guide explains why the record alone is not enough, and how each claim on paper is matched to something physical.

Which company registries hold records in each country?

What does a company record actually show?

A current extract usually shows the registered name and number, the date of incorporation, the registered address, the directors and the shareholders, and whether the company is active and up to date with its filings. Some registries show share capital and charges over assets.

This is useful, and it is the right place to start. It is also all the registry can tell you.

What does the registry prove, and what does it not?

Why is a registered company not the same as a licensed one?

Registration lets a company exist; a licence lets it mine, deal in or export a specific mineral. The two are held by different authorities, and many offers come from companies that are properly registered but hold no licence for the trade they describe. A trading company may present itself as a mine owner; a holder of an exploration licence may offer production.

The check is to take the licence number from the seller and confirm it with the authority and the cadastre — the holder’s name, the mineral, the area, the status and the expiry — then compare the holder with the company in the deal. See how to verify a mining licence.

How is a company matched to the mining cadastre?

Most of the countries above publish or hold a mining cadastre: a map-based register of mining titles with their holders and boundaries. Matching the company to the cadastre answers three questions: does the title exist, is it held by this company (or a company it controls), and does the area match the place the material is said to come from?

A title held by a different company, a title in a different district, or an exploration licence presented as a mining licence are all findings that change the risk of the transaction.

How is beneficial ownership checked?

Shareholders on a registry extract can be nominees or other companies. Tracing ownership means following each corporate shareholder back until individuals are reached, using the registries of each country involved, then screening those individuals against sanctions lists, politically exposed persons and adverse media. The OECD Due Diligence Guidance treats unclear ownership as a red flag in its own right.

How do you confirm that the supplier owns the goods?

No registry records who owns a stockpile or a gold bar. Ownership of goods is confirmed at the place they are held: the warehouse, vault or refinery is contacted directly — on contact details found independently, not supplied by the seller — and asked to confirm that it holds the lot in the supplier’s name. Purchase or production records then trace the lot back to a licensed source.

What does a visit to the warehouse or mine add?

A visit turns claims into observations. At a mine, the inspector compares the operation with its title and its claimed output. At a warehouse, the inspector counts, weighs, reads marks and checks who controls the store. Photographs taken by the inspector, with dates and locations, replace photographs supplied by the seller.

How are the goods themselves checked?

The material is counted and weighed, and its quality is tested where it is held — XRF, acid and density for gold; XRF and marks for copper cathode — with samples sealed for an accredited laboratory where the price depends on grade. Results are stated as conforming or not conforming to the agreed specification.

How do documents fit between the registry and the ground?

Trade documents — the safe-keeping receipt, the assay certificate, the export permit, the certificate of origin — sit between the record and the goods. Each names an issuer, and each can be confirmed with that issuer by number and details. A document that its named issuer will not confirm is reported as unconfirmed, however convincing it looks. See how to verify gold deal documents.

Which red flags show the record and the ground do not match?

• The company on the licence is not the company in the contract.
• The licence covers exploration, or a different mineral, or has expired.
• The registered address is a residence or a shared office, and no operation can be visited.
• The custodian named on an SKR cannot be reached through its own published contacts.
• The seller asks for fees before any inspection of the goods.
• The seller refuses an independent inspector before payment.

In what order should the checks be done?

1. Registry: does the company exist, and who is behind it?
2. Licence and cadastre: may it mine, deal in or export this mineral?
3. Ownership and screening: who controls it, and are they sanctioned or exposed?
4. Documents: do the issuers confirm them?
5. Ground: do the operation and the goods exist, and do they match?

Desk checks come first because they are fastest and stop most bad offers early; site work follows for the offers that pass.

How long does due diligence in Africa take?

Times start once we have the supplier’s details and, for site work, confirmed access.

Where do I get the registry and the ground checked together?

Nairank Global’s supplier due diligence covers both halves before the contract is signed: the company at the national registry and mining cadastre, and the goods inspected and tested at source. Country pages: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, DR Congo, Ghana, Sierra Leone.