DRC Central Bank Receives First Refined Gold Ingots Under New Reserve-Building Programme
Democratic Republic of Congo Launches State Gold Reserve Programme as First Refined Ingots Reach Central Bank
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has received its first delivery of refined gold ingots at the central bank, marking a major milestone in its effort to rebuild official monetary gold reserves through a new state-led purchasing programme.
According to DRC Gold Refinery SA the country’s first dedicated gold refinery the development represents a significant step toward restoring the nation’s monetary gold system nearly five decades after it largely ceased formal accumulation.
The company said the milestone follows a contract signed in February between the Central Bank of the Congo and DRC Gold Trading SA, which has already resulted in the delivery of initial batches of refined gold to the central bank.
Formalisation of Artisanal Gold Supply Chains
DRC Gold Refinery SA said it specialises in the purchase, aggregation, and refining of artisanal gold into standardised bullion, ensuring that output from small-scale miners is processed into investment-grade bars suitable for inclusion in official reserves.
The delivery of the first ingots is a key milestone, confirming that locally sourced artisanal gold has now been successfully converted into monetary gold a classification that allows it to be recorded as part of the central bank’s official reserve assets.
Historically, much of the DRC’s artisanal gold production has flowed through informal channels, limiting its contribution to national reserves and reducing transparency in the sector.
The new framework aims to reverse this trend by formalising supply chains, strengthening state oversight, and improving traceability across the gold value chain.
Central Bank Expands Domestic Gold-Buying Strategy
The Banque Centrale du Congo has recently shifted toward a structured domestic gold procurement strategy designed to enhance economic sovereignty through direct purchases from state-owned aggregators.
During a Council of Ministers meeting on April 5, Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka outlined the policy direction, describing it as a measure to strengthen oversight, improve traceability, and formalise gold flows that have historically been dominated by informal and cross-border trade networks.
Until recently, the central bank did not maintain a systematic domestic gold-buying programme.
As a result, a significant portion of artisanal production particularly from eastern regions was sold through private intermediaries and often exported informally, leaving limited impact on official reserves.
Building Official Reserves from Domestic Production
The new framework is designed to ensure that a greater share of domestic gold production is refined, documented, and retained within the national financial system.
By centralising procurement through a state-owned aggregator, the government aims to improve transparency in the artisanal mining sector while also creating a direct mechanism for converting locally produced gold into official reserve assets.
Officials say the initiative represents a structural shift in how the country captures value from its mineral wealth, particularly in a sector long characterised by informality and leakage into unrecorded cross-border trade.
