Category: 3. Business

It has been a good year for gold. A host of turbulent events in the global economy has driven up prices for the glittery commodity to record highs in 2025.

In a world of tariffs and international conflict, gold appeals to investors as one of the few remaining stable assets. Everyone wants a piece of the action, from central banks to large institutions like hedge funds, and retail investors. But few know where their gold comes from, or much about the conflicts it may be fuelling in the countries where it is mined.

For the governments of West Africa’s Sahel region, the stakes are even higher. Gold is a lifeline for the military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, who are beleaguered by jihadist insurgencies, regional isolation, and the ravages of climate change.

“Because gold prices have been at a historic high… the military governments are hoping that they will be able to benefit directly,” Beverly Ochieng, a senior researcher at global consultancy firm Control Risks, told the BBC.

Together, the three Sahel states produce around 230 tonnes of gold per year, according to the World Gold Council’s estimates, or about $15bn (£11bn) at the current market rate.

A lack of records for artisanal and small-scale gold mining means that this figure is probably an underestimate.

The combined gold production in these three states surpasses any other country in Africa, making the Sahel region a major global contributor to the gold market.

The governments say that the proceeds from the lucrative sector are benefitting citizens through increased “sovereignty” – though Russian firms are increasing their stake in the industry at the expense of Western-owned firms.

For example, Mali’s junta leader Gen Assimi Goïta laid the foundation stone last month for a gold refinery, in which a Russian conglomerate, the Yadran Group, will have a minority stake. The refinery will reportedly create 500 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs.

Burkina Faso is also building its first-ever gold refinery, and has set up a state-owned mining company, requiring foreign firms to give it a 15% stake in their local operations and to transfer skills to Burkinabé people.

Fake AI media campaigns have even been launched to celebrate the country’s charismatic 37-year-old military ruler Capt Ibrahim Traoré for commanding such an important revenue stream for the nation.

“Mining gold from deepest dirt. But souls are rich and true,” croons an AI-generated Rihanna in one recent song, pouring her silky, auto-tuned praise on Capt Traoré.

The reality is very different, according to Ms Ochieng, who explained that Burkina Faso and its neighbours need quick cash to fund counterinsurgency campaigns.

In the case of Mali, much of this has been outsourced to Russian mercenaries, including the Wagner Group and its successor, Africa Corps, which falls under the command of Russia’s defence ministry.

Africa Corps has been involved in military training in Burkina Faso, but the junta officially denies its presence.

Although public spending transparency in the countries is poor, the governments are thought to devote large portions of their budgets to national security.

Military spending in Mali trebled since 2010, amounting to 22% of the national budget by 2020.

The governments are fighting jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS).

But campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Malian government and the Wagner Group of committing atrocities against civilians, including unlawful killings, summary executions, and torture.

It has documented similar atrocities by Burkina Faso’s military and its allied militias.

For their services, the Wagner Group and now Africa Corps are often paid directly in gold or in mining concessions, according to Alex Vines of the London-based Chatham House think-tank.

“Very little [of the gold revenues] will trickle down to Malians and Burkinabés,” he told the BBC, adding that in fact the armed insurgents themselves may be benefiting from gold.

Since the coup in Mali in 2021, brutal government tactics against communities suspected of harbouring or sympathising with jihadists have increased, pushing more civilians to join the very groups they are fighting.

Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate which is the most active jihadist group in the region, staged an unprecedented number of attacks targeting Burkina Faso military during the first half of 2025, a sign of the group’s growing strength.

The armed groups are also literally cashing in on the increased global appetite for gold.

A large proportion of gold mining in the Sahel is from the artisanal and small-scale sector, which is often informal, meaning it takes place on unlicensed and undeclared sites away from government oversight, according to a 2023 report on gold mining in the Sahel by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Armed groups, including jihadist groups, and Sahel governments are in competition for control over many of these small-scale gold mines.

Gold provides an important revenue stream for militant groups, which appear to be expanding their territorial influence in both Mali and Burkina Faso.

The UNODC believes that most gold from this type of mining ends up in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a global centre for gold refining and trading.

“You do see overlap of violent extremist groups moving onto artisanal production areas for control,” said Dr Vines.

The global spike in gold prices may be prolonging and exacerbating conflict in the Sahel – but, unfortunately for the diggers in artisanal gold mines, it has not led to owners increasing their wages.

One gold miner in Mali’s northern Kidal region agreed to respond to written questions from the BBC on condition of anonymity, for fear of his safety.

He estimated that, on a “good day”, he earns 10,000 to 20,000 CFA francs, or approximately $18 to $36 (£13 to £26).

The amount he is paid has not increased alongside global gold prices, he said.

“Prices went up, but the extra profit goes to mine owners… It’s risky and uncertain, but for many of us, it’s the only option,” he added.

Dr Vines, who formerly worked as a blood diamond investigator for the UN, is concerned that gold has become Africa’s new main conflict commodity.

He noted that gold has not received the same international attention as diamonds, which fuelled bloodshed in several African states throughout the 20th Century, especially during the 1990s.

Intervention by human rights groups and the UN led to the establishment of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in 2003, which did much to end the sale of so-called “blood diamonds” on the open market.

But attempts to crack down on “blood gold” have been less successful.

This is partly due to a lack of unified ethical standards. The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), a major authority in the gold market, requires refiners to comply with standards based on guidelines set by a global body, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OED).

The UAE’s enforcement of these regulations has historically been patchy.

In 2021, the country announced its own standards for ethical gold mining – however, the framework remains voluntary. The issue of enforcement has caused tensions in the past between the Gulf state and the LBMA.

Tracing technology represents another hurdle.

“There is no ‘DNA testing’ for gold. With a lot of effort, you can trace diamonds before they get polished and cut… But I haven’t seen ways of tracing the origins of a gold nugget,” Dr Vines said.

Gold is smelted early on in the value chain, making it nearly impossible to trace and connect to potential conflict zones, he explained.

Dr Vines believes that it is likely that some blood gold from the Sahel ends up in UK markets.

“[Gold] gets smelted in [the] UAE, then goes onto the jewellery manufacturing industry, or into dentistry, or bullion. Some of it clearly comes into the UK. And once it is here, there is no way of testing what it is.”

Another reason that it will be difficult to repeat the successes of the Kimberley process, according to Dr Vines, is because the certification system was not designed to deal with state governments.

“Kimberley was designed to deal with armed non-state actors in places like Sierra Leone and Liberia,” he said.

For now, gold’s importance for Sahel governments and the patchy enforcement of ethical gold standards mean that the commodity is likely to continue changing hands, regardless of its origin.

Unfortunately for some communities in the Sahel, that may mean paying for the trade in blood.

At least 180 current and former armed forces aircrew with cancer they claim was caused by exposure to toxic fumes in helicopters are pursuing the Ministry of Defence for compensation.

RAF flight sergeant Zach Stubbings, who died aged 47 in January, is one of at least six people who have received an out-of-court settlement from the MoD although the MoD has not admitted liability.

A group that represents veterans has urged the MoD to take swift action to protect those still serving and also raise awareness among former servicemen and women.

The MoD said it believed engine exhaust emissions were of no risk to health but it was conducting monitoring to demonstrate this.

The Sea King was used in British military operations between 1969 and 2018 and has in the past been flown by both King Charles and the Prince of Wales.

The Westland Wessex was retired in 2003 while the Puma and the CH-47 Chinook are both still in use.

Diseases contracted by some of the crew who flew the helicopters include lung cancer, throat cancer, testicular cancer and some rare forms of blood cancer.

Flight sergeant Zach, who trained the Prince of Wales on RAF Sea King helicopters at RAF Valley in north Wales, was 33 when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable form of blood cancer that mainly affects those over the age of 65.

“He started to think, ‘hang on a minute, I’m a 33-year-old man who’s had this diagnosis of a blood cancer that isn’t common in men in their thirties… I’m going to look into it’,” recalled his widow Anna-Louise.

She is the founder of an organ donation charity which she set up nine years ago after her husband Stuart and seven-year-old son Fraser were killed by a careless driver.

She met Zach when he contacted her charity Believe after receiving a stem cell transplant before marrying in 2020.

“He was appreciating every day after his struggles with this illness and I was just appreciating being part of a team again, having somebody that just completely had my back,” said Anna-Louise.

Zach knew his time was limited and was determined to understand the cause of his cancer and spread awareness. He later discovered others who had worked on military aircraft had also received a cancer diagnosis.

“Zach was never bitter, he wasn’t vengeful at all, he was the most kind man and he adored his years of service,” said Anna-Louise.

Zach’s case was settled without the MoD admitting liability.

“That settlement for Zach allowed him the opportunity to have some kind of recompense but more importantly, to be able to make some memories,” said Anna-Louise.

Now she is focused on continuing Zach’s work to encourage the MoD to launch a cancer screening programme and raise awareness of the issue to aircrew and veterans.

“How many more people are not aware?” she said.

“How many people don’t know because they have not been screened? How many people don’t know what’s around the corner?”.

Zach’s solicitor Louisa Donaghy has been working through the inquiries from veterans and aircrew with cancer and has so far submitted 50 claims.

“I do feel that is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Louisa, a senior associate in Hugh James’ military department in Cardiff.

“There will be people out there that don’t know they’ve got cancer and also that will be diagnosed in the future.”

Ms Donaghy said for each of the six claims she had settled without any admission of liability by the MoD, she had to establish that the MoD had a duty of care to its employees and that the duty had been breached.

Ms Donaghy added: “The people that I’m representing through no fault of their own have been exposed unnecessarily for long periods of time – and for thousands of flying hours – to these toxic fumes and these could have been prevented had the MoD given additional PPE such as filtration masks, which would have narrowed and lowered the levels of exposure.”

One charity for veterans has called for the MoD to be more proactive raising awareness.

“I don’t think the MoD are going far enough,” said Graham Jones of Woody’s Lodge.

“We need to get that message out to the veterans’ community and get people through a screening process so we can get an early indication of cancer and then we might be able to get a better survival rate within those veterans that are suffering.

Mr Jones said many veterans where he lives in north Wales were unaware of the issue.

“We all knew when we served in the armed forces there were going to be certain risks, but they were from conflict,” he said.

“You don’t expect it from the equipment that you’re using.”

Zach’s local Welsh Parliament member wants PPE introduced for those still serving on Puma and Chinook helicopters and has called for a cancer screening programme for personnel and veterans.

“It’s really important to remember that there’s human beings at the end of this, there’s families at the end of this who are very anxious… and my constituent has died,” said Cardiff North MS Julie Morgan.

“It’s a matter of huge concern. The MoD should be as transparent as it possibly can be and I urge the MoD to carry on their investigations as swiftly as they can because it’s owed to people.”

The MoD said it believed engine exhaust emissions were of no risk to health but it was conducting monitoring to enable it to demonstrate this.

In May, the Independent Medical Expert Group (IMEG), which advises the MoD, reviewed evidence about a possible link between exhaust emissions from Sea King helicopters and rare cancers, specifically multiple myeloma and leiomyosarcoma, and found insufficient evidence to establish a clear causal relationship.

“We take the health of our personnel extremely seriously and regularly review our processes to ensure that we’re doing our utmost to keep our people safe,” it said in a statement.

It added: “Any death is a tragedy and our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Zach Stubbings.”