How to Buy Gold in Sierra Leone

1. The law that actually applies in 2026

Start here, because most of what you will read online about buying gold in Sierra Leone is out of date.

Sierra Leone's minerals sector is governed by the Mines and Minerals Development Act, 2022 (No. 16 of 2022). That Act repealed and replaced the Mines and Minerals Act, 2009, and was implemented on 12 May 2023. It represents the most substantial overhaul of the country's mining legal framework in a decade, shifting policy toward resource sovereignty, benefit sharing and sustainable development.

Two related 2022 statutes matter to buyers who care about provenance: the Environment Protection Agency Act, 2022, and reforms requiring free, prior and informed consent from local communities before mining begins. Sierra Leone has also been a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative since 2008 and publishes EITI reports and mining contracts. The NMA maintains a public online mining cadastre and a repository of licences and company payments.

2. Licensing — who may legally sell you gold

This is the single question that decides whether your transaction is a purchase or a crime.

Only a licensed dealer and exporter may lawfully export gold from Sierra Leone. Per the Precious Minerals Trading Directorate:

• Application for an exporter's licence is made on the prescribed form.
• An applicant may be an individual of any nationality, or a registered company — foreign buyers sometimes assume they cannot hold a licence. They can.
• The application must be approved by the Minister of Mineral Resources on the recommendation of the Director of Mines.
• A gold exporter's licence is issued for one year. Half-yearly licences are also issued.
• An exporter contributes 0.05% of the value of each precious minerals export to a rehabilitation fund.

An exporter may employ buying agents, approved by the Director of Mines and issued a prescribed exporter's agent certificate. No more than five agents' certificates may be issued under one exporter's licence. The first two are free.

3. The export procedure, step by step

Here is the actual sequence, as published by the Directorate. It is worth reading closely, because a seller who cannot describe this process accurately has probably never been through it.

1. Hold a legitimate gold export licence.
2. Give the PMTD twenty-four hours notice for valuation to begin.
3. Show a bank statement or inflow as evidence of source of funds. The inflow must commensurate with the export value — the money must have demonstrably come into the country before the goods go out.
4. Gold is tendered for assaying in the presence of the exporter, the Mines Monitoring Officer and the National Revenue Authority Customs Officer.
5. Purity is certified in the presence of the Senior Mines Monitors, the exporter and the Customs Officer.
6. Gold is re-weighed to cross-check, and photographed for record.
7. Gold is packaged and sealed in the presence of all parties, in a wooden box signed by the Mines Monitoring Officer, Customs Officer, and the Director or Manager of PMT.
8. A certificate is issued showing weight, purity percentage, name of licence and licence number, and value of gold in Leones and USD.
9. Documents are vetted by the Directorate of Mines at the National Minerals Agency, then signed by the Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources or a designated representative.
10. Three copies of the certificate go to officials at the international airport. Certificate validity is one month from issue.

Practical details most sites omit: an acid test using nitric acid may be performed if fake gold is suspected. Value is computed using the specific gravity method, and the London gold fix is applied to arrive at the final value. Goods are presented at the PMTD on the 2nd floor of the Bank of Sierra Leone building, Siaka Stevens Street, Freetown.

4. Duties, taxes and charges

Know these before you negotiate a price, because they are not optional and they are not negotiable.

Exporters may open foreign currency accounts in accredited commercial banks in Sierra Leone to finance operations, but must show evidence of importation of all foreign currency inflows before exporting. Every exporter must keep a record of purchases and exports and issue a numbered invoice or receipt for each purchase transaction. If you are not given a numbered receipt, ask why.

5. What you can actually buy

Gold export from Sierra Leone comes in two physical forms as far as the Directorate is concerned: dust or bars. Commercially, the market offers:

• Cast bars — 1kg is the standard institutional format; larger and custom weights are arranged against confirmed orders.
• Gold dust — fine alluvial powder from artisanal production, sold by verified weight and assayed purity.
• Natural nuggets — unprocessed alluvial material, favoured by refiners and collectors who prefer to process themselves.

6. Where the gold comes from

Artisanal and small-scale gold production is concentrated in the Bo and Tonkolili districts, extracted from alluvial deposits by panning, sluicing and small-scale pit mining. This sector sustains tens of thousands of rural families, and its output flows into the licensed dealer and exporter network.

At commercial scale, the Baomahun Gold Project in Bo and Tonkolili holds a JORC-compliant resource of roughly 5.8 million ounces and is set to become Sierra Leone's first large-scale gold operation, targeting around 185,000 ounces annually.

Worth knowing for context: Sierra Leone's official gold output was only about 60kg in 2022 — a figure that points to substantial underreporting or smuggling from artisanal sites. That gap is precisely why the licensed, certified channel matters, and why buyers who go around it are stepping into the part of the market that the numbers say is already broken.

7. How buyers get defrauded

We will be direct about this, because the honest version is more useful to you than a sales pitch.

Sierra Leone's mineral sector has historically been vulnerable to fraud, smuggling and informal intermediaries. The Directorate itself lists "illicit trading, smuggling and cyber fraud" among the things it exists to stop. The promise of cheap West African gold attracts legitimate buyers and a steady supply of people who prey on them.

The recurring patterns:

• The unlicensed "direct from the mine" seller. Buying from miners outside the licensed dealer channel is not a clever shortcut around markup — it is a breach of the Act, and it leaves you with material you cannot legally export.
• The below-spot offer. Gold trades on a global price. Anyone offering a steep discount to spot is either not selling gold, not able to deliver it, or not planning to.
• Advance fees. Requests for money to cover "licence fees", "clearance", "insurance" or "anti-terrorism certificates" before any goods are assayed.
• Fabricated documents. Forged certificates are common enough that the PMTD photographs sealed parcels with their certificates and keeps them on file specifically to enable verification.
• Offshore "Sierra Leone" suppliers. Check where the company actually is. Several of the sites ranking for these keywords list addresses in other countries entirely, while presenting themselves as Sierra Leone operations.

8. Your verification checklist

Print this. Work through it before money moves.

1. Get the licence name and number, and verify it with the National Minerals Agency directly — not via a number the seller gives you. NMA's published contact is info@nma.gov.sl, New England Ville, Freetown.
2. Confirm the statute they cite. It is the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022. Not 2009.
3. Insist the assay happens at the PMTD — Bank of Sierra Leone building, 2nd floor, Siaka Stevens Street, Freetown — with the Mines Monitoring Officer and NRA Customs Officer present.
4. Require the certificate showing weight, purity %, licence name and number, and value. Check its date; validity is one month.
5. Ask for a numbered invoice or receipt for the purchase. Exporters are required to issue one.
6. Use banked, traceable payment. The inflow requirement means legitimate transactions already run through the banking system. A seller wanting cash or crypto is avoiding the one control that protects you both.
7. Confirm departure is via the international airport. All precious minerals for export must go through it.
8. Consider independent counsel. For significant transactions, retain a lawyer who can verify chain of custody before funds are committed.

9. Frequently asked questions

Talk to a desk that expects scrutiny

Nova Parameter SL LTD is a clearance house in Bo, the heart of Sierra Leone's mining country, for gold and rough diamonds. We would rather answer your verification questions before a transaction than manage a dispute after one.

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