Due Diligence & Verification
Assay certificate and trade document verification in Africa
A document proves nothing until the body that issued it confirms it. We take each paper the seller has sent — assay certificate, export permit, certificate of origin, vault receipt — back to its issuer, confirm it is genuine, and establish whether it belongs to the lot you are being offered.
Scope
- Turnaround
- Typically three to seven working days. Timing depends on how quickly each issuer answers; we report progress document by document.
- Coverage
- 7 countries, and anywhere in Africa
- Standards
- Nairank Global Standard; supports OECD-aligned due diligence
Mineral deals in Africa often arrive with a file of documents before any material has been seen. Some are genuine and current. Some are genuine but belong to an earlier shipment, another company or a different grade. Some were never issued at all. They can look identical on screen.
We work from the issuer, not the document. For each paper we identify the issuing laboratory, authority, vault or carrier, obtain its contact details from an independent source — never from the document or the seller — and ask it to confirm the reference number, the date, the holder and the content. The answer goes into the report as received.
Alongside the issuer confirmation we examine the document itself: layout against known genuine examples, numbering sequence, dates, signatures and stamps, and the file’s own data where it was sent electronically. That examination can raise doubts; only the issuer can settle them.
Typical situations
- When an assay certificate arrives before you have seen the material
- Before documents are named as conditions of payment under a letter of credit or a staged transfer
- When the papers look right but the price or the story does not
- When a bank or compliance team asks for evidence that the documents are genuine
Method
Our testers and inspectors are based in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, the DR Congo, Ghana and Sierra Leone, and deploy with XRF analysers wherever in Africa the material is held.
- STEP 01
Upload the file
Send the documents with the Due Diligence form — PDF, Word or photographs — and tell us which lot and which seller they are said to relate to.
- STEP 02
Document examination
Each paper is examined for consistency: format, numbering, dates, signatures, stamps and file data.
- STEP 03
Independent issuer contact
The issuer’s contact details are sourced independently and a confirmation request is sent with the reference number and key data.
- STEP 04
Confirmation received
The issuer confirms, denies or does not reply. Each outcome is recorded with its date and source.
- STEP 05
Reconciliation to the lot
Confirmed documents are checked against the lot offered: seller, quantity, grade, marks, dates and route.
- STEP 06
Report
A result for each document and a view on which can be relied on as a condition of payment.
Scoping is free. We return a scope, timetable and terms within one business day.
Request this service
Detail
Documents we authenticate
- Assay and analysis certificates from international commercial laboratories and from national laboratories
- Export permits, export declarations and royalty receipts
- Certificates of origin, and in the Great Lakes region ICGLR regional certificates, confirmed in the DR Congo with the CEEC
- Vault and safekeeping receipts, and storage or warehouse receipts
- Airway bills, bills of lading, packing lists and insurance certificates
- Company and licence documents, where they form part of the file
- Reports that bear the Nairank Global name, through our free document verification service
How each result is classified
Every document receives one of four results. The classification is mechanical, so the same document always reads the same way.
- Confirmed — the issuer confirms the document and its content, and it matches the lot offered
- Confirmed, not this lot — the issuer confirms the document, but it relates to another shipment, holder, date or grade
- Denied — the issuer states that it did not issue the document, or that its content has been altered
- Not confirmed — the issuer did not respond within the agreed period, or could not be identified; the document is treated as unverified
Defects we find most often
Most defects are not forgeries in the dramatic sense. They are genuine papers used out of context. The commonest are an old assay certificate presented for a new lot; a real laboratory name on a certificate number it never issued; weights or fineness altered on an otherwise genuine certificate; a licence issued to another company; and a vault receipt from a facility that cannot be found or does not hold the metal. Each of these is caught by asking the issuer, and none of them is reliably caught by looking at the paper alone.
Papers that prove less than they appear to
Several documents common in African mineral deals carry more weight in negotiation than they do in fact, and we say so when we report on them.
- A vault or safekeeping receipt shows that something was deposited in someone’s name on a date. It does not show who owns it now, whether it has been pledged, or that it is the metal described.
- A letter of intent, an offer or a buyer’s purchase order records an intention. It is evidence of nothing about the material.
- A bank comfort or capability letter states a relationship with the bank on its date. It is not a guarantee unless it says so in terms, and it must be confirmed with the bank through its own channels.
- A photograph of bars or bags shows that they existed when and where it was taken — which, for a supplied photograph, cannot be established.
- An assay certificate describes the sample the laboratory received. It describes the lot only if the sample was drawn from the lot under independent control.
What the report contains
- A schedule of every document received, with its reference number and stated issuer
- For each: the issuer contacted, how its details were sourced, the date of the request and the answer received
- The examination notes for each document
- The reconciliation of confirmed documents to the lot offered
- A recommendation on which documents may be named as conditions of payment
Deliverables
- A result for each document — confirmed, confirmed not this lot, denied or not confirmed
- The issuer’s answer, with date and the independent source of its contact details
- Reconciliation of confirmed documents to the seller, quantity, grade and route
- A view on which documents can be relied on in the contract or letter of credit
Turnaround. Typically three to seven working days. Timing depends on how quickly each issuer answers; we report progress document by document.
Why clients choose us
- Issuers are contacted on details we source ourselves, never on numbers printed on the document.
- Each outcome is classified the same way every time, so findings can be compared across suppliers.
- Laboratories, authorities and vaults across Africa are contacted in English or French, by our own staff.
- Nairank Global is independent of buyers and sellers. Its fees are outcome-neutral: they are the same whether or not the transaction proceeds. Our fee is agreed before work starts and is the same whatever we find.
Questions
Not answered here? Message the desk.
Which documents can you authenticate?
Assay and analysis certificates, export permits, royalty receipts, certificates of origin, ICGLR certificates, vault and warehouse receipts, transport documents, insurance certificates and company and licence papers.
Which laboratories will confirm a certificate?
Most commercial laboratories will confirm whether a certificate number was issued and what it states. Some confirm only to the party named on the certificate; if so, we say so and propose a route.
Why not just call the number on the certificate?
Because a false document can carry a false number. We source every issuer’s contact details independently — from its own published channels or our records — so the person confirming is the issuer and not the seller.
What if a certificate is genuine but old?
It is reported as confirmed, not this lot. A genuine certificate for an earlier shipment says nothing about the material being offered now.
Do you check ICGLR certificates?
Yes. In the DR Congo they are confirmed with the CEEC, and for tagged minerals reconciled with the tags and seals on the bags where an inspection is also carried out.
Can you confirm a vault or safekeeping receipt?
We confirm with the vault operator whether the receipt was issued and whether it is current. A receipt does not prove ownership or that the metal has not been pledged, and the report says so.
How long does it take?
Typically three to seven working days, depending on the issuers. We report each document as its answer arrives, so an early denial reaches you at once.
What happens if the issuer does not respond?
The document is reported as not confirmed. We do not treat silence as confirmation, and we suggest how a confirmation can be obtained.
Can you tell from the document alone whether it is forged?
Examination often shows signs of alteration, but it cannot prove a document genuine. Only the issuer can do that, which is why every result rests on the issuer’s answer.
Will the seller know?
Issuers are contacted directly, without the seller’s involvement. Your identity is not disclosed to the seller unless you agree.
Can I check a report that carries the Nairank Global name?
Yes, free of charge, on our document verification page. We confirm whether Nairank Global issued it and whether its content is unaltered.
Where we provide this
City and country pages with local detail: where our teams work, the authorities involved and how an engagement runs there.
- Gold testing in NairobiGold tested in Nairobi vaults and dealers’ premises, with vault and licence confirmation.
- Gold testing in KampalaTesting at dealers, refineries and Entebbe airport, with seller licence checks.
- Gold and copper testing in LubumbashiGold testing and copper and cobalt sampling in Haut-Katanga and Lualaba, with warehouse inspection.
- Gold testing in AccraGold testing and GoldBod and Minerals Commission licence checks for buyers in Ghana.
- Supplier due diligence in TanzaniaBRELA, Mining Commission, authority to sell, inspection and screening.
- Supplier due diligence in KenyaBRS record, Mining Act licences, vault confirmation and testing.
- Supplier due diligence in UgandaURSB, DGSM licences, origin documents and testing.
- Supplier due diligence in the DR CongoRCCM, CAMI, CEEC, inspection and OECD-aligned evidence.
- Supplier due diligence in GhanaORC, GoldBod and Minerals Commission checks, offtake documents and testing.
Related practice areas
Company & Mining-Licence Verification
Gold Testing & Assaying
Copper & Base-Metal Sampling and Lab Testing
Field guidance
Country pages and buyer guides where this work applies.
- Tanzania — Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, GeitaXRF, density and fire assay in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Geita, with BRELA and Mining Commission checks on the seller.
- Kenya — Nairobi, Migori, KakamegaGold testing in Nairobi and western Kenya, with checks on the dealer’s licence class, company record and export approval.
- DR Congo — Bunia, Kinshasa, LubumbashiGold testing and seller checks against RCCM, CAMI, the comptoir licence and CEEC certification.
- Uganda — Kampala, Entebbe, MubendeIndependent testing of incoming lots for refineries, witnessed melts and supplier checks; refinery certificate checks for buyers.
- Verified gold suppliers in AfricaWhat makes a gold supplier verified, and where the records sit in Tanzania, the DRC, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Ghana.
- Copper suppliers in ZambiaPACRA, the Mining Cadastre, export permits, cathode brands and concentrate sampling — what to check before buying Zambian copper.
Document & Certificate Verification
Brief us on the requirement and the location. We return a scope, a timetable and terms within 24 hours, in confidence.