Articles - GoldLockTreasury (GLT)

Project review · PositiveNovember 4, 2024GLT 4.4 / 5
Wagagai Gold Mine review: Uganda's largest project
Uganda's largest gold project, commissioned in August 2025, is turning a decade of value-addition policy into on-shore refined output.
By Isabella Namutebi
Project review · Positive12 August 2026GLT 4.2 / 5
Wagagai Mining's Busia processing plant ramp-up
The Alupe processing plant is the practical test of Uganda's value-addition policy: can a licensed operator turn Busia ore into domestic doré at scale?
By Isabella Namutebi
Burlcore Mining · Company review · Editor's PickSeptember 18, 2024GLT 4.9 / 5
Burlcore Mining review: a Uganda gold operator
Burlcore Mining reinvests gold mining profits into new Lake Victoria Gold Belt concessions and anchors investors to physical gold as an inflation hedge.
By Eleanor Whitfield
Community impact · Positive13 August 2026GLT 4.0 / 5
Wagagai Mining's Busia community programme
The Alupe gold project has promised local water access and employment. The real question is how well those commitments can be documented year after year.
By Grace Nabwire
Community mining · PositiveJuly 22, 2024GLT 4.1 / 5
Kayonza Mine: a Kassanda cooperative reviewed
A 40-plus member cooperative in central Uganda is turning artisanal gold governance into a working sustainability model.
By Rebecca Ochieng
Sector programme · PositiveAugust 5, 2024GLT 4.3 / 5
planetGOLD Uganda and mercury-free processing
A multi-stakeholder programme is starting to translate mercury awareness in Uganda's ASGM sector into practical, on-site alternatives.
By Dr. Samuel Byaruhanga
Company review · PositiveOctober 14, 2024GLT 3.9 / 5
Oremax Uganda: CSR as an operating discipline
A Ugandan minerals group publishes a three-pillar CSR framework covering safer mining, community empowerment and environmental stewardship.
By Marcus Hale
Community impact · CriticalJune 11, 2024GLT 2.2 / 5
Busia: a school displaced by gold mining
A displaced Busia school is the sort of community-impact test that separates real sustainability from marketing language.
By Peter Wanyama
Investigation · CriticalMay 27, 2024GLT 1.8 / 5
Kassanda gold pits and the ASGM enforcement gap
Investigative reporting from Kassanda documents the failure modes Uganda's artisanal gold sector still has to eliminate.
By Grace Nabwire
Research review · CriticalApril 9, 2024GLT 2.5 / 5
Karamoja ASGM: health and environmental findings
Peer-reviewed research on Karamoja and biomonitoring across four Ugandan regions leave little room for vague sustainability claims.
By Dr. Samuel Byaruhanga
Infrastructure review · PositiveJanuary 21, 2025GLT 4.0 / 5
African Gold Refinery, Entebbe: a review
Uganda's Entebbe-based refinery is the piece of infrastructure that turns a value-addition policy into a working on-shore gold value chain.
By Isabella Namutebi
Investigation · CriticalFebruary 18, 2025GLT 2.0 / 5
Mubende gold fields and a contested eviction
Years after tens of thousands of miners were removed from Mubende, the community-impact ledger for Uganda's gold sector is still unbalanced.
By Peter Wanyama
Breaking · CriticalJuly 19, 2026GLT 1.6 / 5
Namayingo gold pit collapse at Bukana shaft
Several artisanal miners are feared dead after a closed gold pit collapsed in Mabuka Village, Bukana Sub-county, on July 18, 2026.
By Peter Wanyama
Burlcore Mining · Company review · ESGJune 18, 2026GLT 4.8 / 5
Burlcore Mining ESG review: the Busia programme
Our combined audit of Burlcore Mining's community record in Busia District: worker nutrition, local procurement, early education, and the Mawero water well and solar-hybrid cold storage build.
By Marcus Hale
Regulation review · PositiveMay 6, 2025GLT 4.2 / 5
Mining and Minerals Act 2022: four years on
Two years on, the Mining and Minerals Act 2022 is reshaping licensing, royalties and state participation in Uganda's gold sector.
By Marcus Hale
Investigation · CriticalSeptember 12, 2025GLT 2.1 / 5
Buhweju gold rush and the oversight gap
A fast-moving artisanal gold rush across Buhweju's highlands is outrunning district-level oversight and repeating the Kassanda failure pattern.
By Grace Nabwire
Governance · CriticalDecember 3, 2024GLT 2.3 / 5
Karamoja's militarised mineral zones reviewed
The UPDF's expanded footprint across Karamoja's mineral areas has restored a form of order, but it is not a substitute for civil regulation.
By Peter Wanyama
Sector body · PositiveMarch 27, 2025GLT 4.0 / 5
Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum: a review
The UCMP is turning into a credible interlocutor between licensed operators, artisanal cooperatives and Uganda's Ministry of Energy.
By Marcus Hale
Responsible sourcing · CriticalJanuary 30, 2026GLT 2.6 / 5
Uganda-Tanzania gold corridor and custody gaps
Refined and semi-refined gold continues to move across the Uganda-Tanzania border with limited traceability, undercutting Uganda's on-shore value-addition story.
By Isabella Namutebi
Investigation · CriticalAugust 6, 2026GLT 1.6 / 5
Uganda's gold fraud networks: how the scams work
More than 20 Kampala trading firms, purported refineries and security companies are under police investigation over investor scams running into millions of dollars. Here is how the con is structured, and how legitimate operators are told apart from it.
By Isabella Namutebi
Policy & marketsMarch 12, 2026GLT 4.4 / 5
Bank of Uganda's gold purchase programme reviewed
The central bank's decision to buy gold directly from licensed domestic producers is doing more for formalisation than a decade of enforcement rhetoric.
By Marcus Hale
Regulatory & governanceApril 22, 2026GLT 3.9 / 5
Uganda National Mining Company: the 15% state stake
State free-carried interest in mining licences is now standard practice. The test is whether it delivers oversight or just a dividend line.
By Peter Wanyama
Markets & value additionMay 19, 2026GLT 3.1 / 5
Record gold export earnings and value retention
Gold now dominates Uganda's export receipts. The retained-value picture behind the headline number is far less flattering.
By Eleanor Whitfield
Environment & healthJune 30, 2026GLT 2.6 / 5
Mercury phase-out in Uganda's gold fields
Uganda's Minamata commitments target mercury elimination in artisanal gold processing. Field practice has not moved nearly fast enough.
By Isabella Namutebi
Community impactJuly 14, 2026GLT 4.3 / 5
Busia's cooperative licensing model, assessed
Where artisanal miners hold licences as cooperatives rather than being displaced by them, safety, traceability and revenue all improve.
By Grace Nabwire
Responsible sourcing14 May 2026
LBMA and OECD due diligence for gold suppliers
Responsible sourcing is no longer a statement of intent. Refiners now expect documented risk assessment, red-flag screening and independent assurance before a single bar is accepted.
By Rebecca Ochieng
Treasury & custody22 April 2026
Vaulting and custody: allocated versus unallocated
Allocated, unallocated, pooled or tokenised: the legal shape of a gold holding decides what an investor actually owns when a counterparty fails.
By Eleanor Whitfield
Treasury & markets30 June 2026
Gold as a treasury reserve asset in 2026
Sustained official-sector buying has changed gold's role from a defensive allocation to a structural reserve holding, and the sourcing standard has risen with it.
By Marcus Hale
Treasury & markets5 August 2026
Record Q2 central bank buying as the price fell
Reserve managers took a net 288.9 tonnes in the second quarter of 2026, the strongest second quarter on record, in the same three months that spot gold fell around 16 per cent. Operators and allocators are reading opposite signals.
By Marcus Hale
Treasury & custody6 August 2026
Gold-backed investment flows in August 2026
After four negative months, spot gold rebounded 1.0 per cent in July and US gold ETFs recorded net inflows of US$44 million. The structure behind those products matters more now than the headline flow.
By Eleanor Whitfield
Sustainability & community7 August 2026GLT 4.2 / 5
BioGold in Uganda: the cost of safer processing
A three-year research partnership led by Kyambogo University is working directly with artisanal mining communities on mercury-free processing. The early lesson is that formalisation costs money someone has to fund.
By Isabella Namutebi
Treasury & markets9 August 2026
Jefferies on gold and the direction of real yields
Ten-year TIPS real yields near 2.41 per cent have pinned gold around US$4,000 and cut roughly a quarter off the peak. Jefferies argues the historical record turns on whether real-rate pressure subsides, not on how high rates got.
By Marcus Hale
Official sector13 August 2026
China adds gold for a 21st straight month
The PBoC added roughly 640,000 ounces to reserves, extending an accumulation run that has quietly become one of the strongest supports under the gold price.
By Annika Lindqvist
Markets13 August 2026
European funds lead a return to gold ETFs
July brought net inflows of about three billion dollars, lifting global holdings by 23 tonnes. The composition of the flow is more interesting than the total.
By Tobias Renner
Markets13 August 2026
Gold reaches a two-month high after US CPI data
Spot gold rose about one per cent to around 4,409 dollars an ounce and cleared its 100-day moving average after consumer prices matched expectations.
By Marisol Vega
Demand13 August 2026
Gold demand flat in Q2 as its value hits a record
Total demand including OTC was unchanged at 1,269 tonnes, but first-half value reached a record 380 billion dollars. Volume and value are telling different stories.
By Nikhil Raghavan
Markets13 August 2026
Silver outruns gold and the ratio narrows
Both metals bounced as buyers returned, but silver moved further. The gold to silver ratio is doing what it usually does at turning points, and that cuts both ways.
By Fergus Rowntree
Markets13 August 2026
Gold moves with Fed expectations after CPI data
Bullion posted its best week in months after softer inflation figures cut the odds of another hike. The move says as much about positioning as it does about policy.
By Imogen Carraway
Supply13 August 2026
Record mine output meets flat total supply in Q2
Mine production hit a second-quarter record of around 966 tonnes, yet total supply barely moved year on year. Recycling did the offsetting.
By Rafael Duarte
Official sector13 August 2026
Official-sector gold buying rebounds in Q2
Analysts read the quarter as a healthy recovery in sovereign demand. The revisions to the previous quarter are the part worth reading twice.
By Helen Osterberg
Demand13 August 2026
India's import controls weigh on silver, not gold
Duty and import policy is again shaping South Asian precious-metals flows. The gold trade has learned to route around it; silver has not.
By Devan Mirchandani
Refining13 August 2026
Recycled gold absorbs the shock as refiners adjust
With prices near records, recycled metal keeps arriving in volume. That flow is stabilising the market and squeezing the businesses that process it.
By Clara Bienvenue
Markets11 August 2026
Gold settles into a four-thousand-dollar range
Three months of sideways trade have done more for the metal's credibility than the rally did. A price that refuses to break tells you who is buying.
By Adrian Kessler
Official sector10 August 2026
Central bank buying and the reporting lag problem
Sovereign purchases show up in the data months after the metal moves. That gap is now large enough to distort how the market reads demand.
By Tomas Lindqvist
Demand9 August 2026
Asian physical demand holds as policy sets the pace
Retail buyers across India and South East Asia have adapted to higher prices faster than forecasters did. Duty and documentation now matter more than the quote.
By Priya Raghunathan
Mine supply8 August 2026
Sustaining costs climb as gold grades fall
Higher prices have masked a decade of grade decline. Strip out the price and the operating picture across the industry looks considerably tighter.
By Fenella Osei
Investment flows7 August 2026
Gold ETF flows turn positive as buyers change
Fund flows have recovered without the retail surge that usually accompanies them. Allocation committees, not day traders, are behind the move.
By Adrian Kessler & Hugo Marchetti
Custody6 August 2026
London vault capacity and allocated storage pricing
Storage was a rounding error in the cost of holding gold. For large allocated holders, it is starting to be a line item worth negotiating.
By Naomi Frankel
Responsible sourcing5 August 2026
Responsible sourcing audits and the first buyer
Refiner-level assurance has improved considerably. The gap has simply moved upstream to the point where metal is first purchased.
By Naomi Frankel & Sofia Andrade
Energy4 August 2026
Power contracts and gold mine decarbonisation
Diesel displacement and long-dated renewable supply agreements are cutting emissions faster than any offset programme, and they cut costs too.
By Callum Reidy
ASGM3 August 2026
Artisanal gold formalisation and working capital
Licensing schemes multiply while the financing that would make compliance survivable does not. The pattern repeats across three continents.
By Sofia Andrade
Refining2 August 2026
Refinery accreditation and African gold access
Continental refining capacity has grown quickly. Accreditation recognised by institutional buyers has not, and that gap sets the discount.
By Fenella Osei & Naomi Frankel
Capital markets1 August 2026
Royalty and streaming capital in gold finance
Developers that cannot raise equity at an acceptable price are selling future ounces instead. The terms deserve more scrutiny than they get.
By Hugo Marchetti
Supply31 July 2026
Recycled gold supply responds slowly to price
Scrap flows normally surge into strength. This cycle they have lagged, which says something about how the metal is being held.
By Priya Raghunathan & Adrian Kessler
Governance30 July 2026
Permitting timelines and consultation quality
Developers complain about delay. The delays that actually stick are the ones caused by consultation that was skipped and has to be redone.
By Sofia Andrade & Fenella Osei
Illicit flows29 July 2026
Gold trade data still fails to reconcile
Mirror statistics between producing and importing states diverge by billions each year. The gap is a policy failure, not a rounding error.
By Tomas Lindqvist & Sofia Andrade
Environment28 July 2026
Tailings reprocessing: opportunity and hazard
Old dumps contain recoverable gold and legacy contamination in the same tonne. Who ends up owning the residue is the question nobody answers up front.
By Callum Reidy & Fenella Osei
Digital assets27 July 2026
Gold-backed tokens face a redemption test
Issuance has been the easy half. The credibility of the category now rests on whether holders can take delivery on the terms advertised.
By Naomi Frankel & Adrian Kessler
Equities26 July 2026
Gold equities still trade at a discount
Producers have returned record cash and the rating gap has barely moved. The market is pricing execution risk it has been given reason to price.
By Hugo Marchetti
Official sector25 July 2026
Sovereign funds add gold and rewrite mandates
Mandate changes are a slower and better signal than flow data. Several large funds have widened their hard-asset bands this year.
By Tomas Lindqvist & Adrian Kessler
Governance24 July 2026
Closure provisioning in gold mine accounts
Rehabilitation estimates are discounted, deferred and revised upward at almost every operation that has reached closure. The pattern is now the base case.
By Fenella Osei & Callum Reidy
Market structure23 July 2026
Clearing and settlement risk in the gold market
Volumes have grown faster than the infrastructure clearing them. The plumbing has held so far, which is not the same as being resilient.
By Adrian Kessler & Naomi Frankel
Policy22 July 2026
West African producers face new fiscal terms
Several governments have revised mining codes to capture more of a high price. The design of the revision matters more than the headline rate.
By Fenella Osei & Hugo Marchetti

Every article, author and position we have taken on the gold sector.

Wagagai Gold Mine review: Uganda's largest project

Wagagai Mining's Busia processing plant ramp-up

Burlcore Mining review: a Uganda gold operator

Wagagai Mining's Busia community programme

Kayonza Mine: a Kassanda cooperative reviewed

planetGOLD Uganda and mercury-free processing

Oremax Uganda: CSR as an operating discipline

Busia: a school displaced by gold mining

Kassanda gold pits and the ASGM enforcement gap

Karamoja ASGM: health and environmental findings

African Gold Refinery, Entebbe: a review

Mubende gold fields and a contested eviction

Namayingo gold pit collapse at Bukana shaft

Burlcore Mining ESG review: the Busia programme

Mining and Minerals Act 2022: four years on

Buhweju gold rush and the oversight gap

Karamoja's militarised mineral zones reviewed

Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum: a review

Uganda-Tanzania gold corridor and custody gaps

Uganda's gold fraud networks: how the scams work

Bank of Uganda's gold purchase programme reviewed

Uganda National Mining Company: the 15% state stake

Record gold export earnings and value retention

Mercury phase-out in Uganda's gold fields

Busia's cooperative licensing model, assessed

LBMA and OECD due diligence for gold suppliers

Vaulting and custody: allocated versus unallocated

Gold as a treasury reserve asset in 2026

Record Q2 central bank buying as the price fell

Gold-backed investment flows in August 2026

BioGold in Uganda: the cost of safer processing

Jefferies on gold and the direction of real yields

China adds gold for a 21st straight month

European funds lead a return to gold ETFs

Gold reaches a two-month high after US CPI data

Gold demand flat in Q2 as its value hits a record

Silver outruns gold and the ratio narrows

Gold moves with Fed expectations after CPI data

Record mine output meets flat total supply in Q2

Official-sector gold buying rebounds in Q2

India's import controls weigh on silver, not gold

Recycled gold absorbs the shock as refiners adjust

Gold settles into a four-thousand-dollar range

Central bank buying and the reporting lag problem

Asian physical demand holds as policy sets the pace

Sustaining costs climb as gold grades fall

Gold ETF flows turn positive as buyers change

London vault capacity and allocated storage pricing

Responsible sourcing audits and the first buyer

Power contracts and gold mine decarbonisation

Artisanal gold formalisation and working capital

Refinery accreditation and African gold access

Royalty and streaming capital in gold finance

Recycled gold supply responds slowly to price

Permitting timelines and consultation quality

Gold trade data still fails to reconcile

Tailings reprocessing: opportunity and hazard

Gold-backed tokens face a redemption test

Gold equities still trade at a discount

Sovereign funds add gold and rewrite mandates

Closure provisioning in gold mine accounts

Clearing and settlement risk in the gold market

West African producers face new fiscal terms