Ghanain Gold Mine

GHANAIN GOLD MINE.

This is a matter that I worked on about nine years ago for a client of mine, a broker, who had been approached by one of his clients to buy gold from the client’s gold mine in Ghana. The man with the gold claimed that he owned a piece of an alluvial Gold mine located in Ghana. He claimed that the company that he was working with had the necessary licenses to mine and export gold from the country. When my client approached me with this “scheme” I was very skeptical and told him so. However he was convinced that this was the deal of a lifetime and he was going to make a ton of money exporting gold from Ghana. After all, his “supplier” provided him with the contract containing all of the necessary information, including license numbers etc. that “proved” that this was a real deal. Under the terms of the deal, my client was to provide funds to help mine the gold and then would receive 1 kg of gold at a discounted rate, which would not only cover the cost of his investment but also give him a hefty profit for his investment in the project.

Now, let’s be clear. Doing business in second and third world countries can be dicey at best. Graft and corruption can be rampant. It is really more their culture that bribes and payoffs are the norm. Everyone who can get a piece wants in on the action. So, in many cases, to get things done, you need to pay off local politicians, local government entities, provincial government entities and national government entities as well as police and military groups. Even if you take those steps, when dealing with such a precious commodity as gold, there are no guarantees. If you read my story about Nigerian oil, you know that even a visit to the site cannot be trusted. You think your are meeting government officials but you’re actually meeting imposters. You’ve heard the stories about what has taken place. in Africa regarding oil, diamonds, gold, and other precious materials. It is a minefield and I don’t mean gold mine field.

Against my best advice, my client decided to go forward with the project. His client traveled from the United States to Ghana to work on the project. However partway through, he got sick and had to return to the United States. At least that is what the story was but there is no way to know for sure. In the end, my client was out over $10,000 and had nothing to show for it. Yes, sometimes there is no reward without risk, but the risk needs to be manageable. You need to know what the risks are and how to do your absolute best to manage that risk. All I can tell you is: stay away from schemes in Africa, parts of Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Don’t forget Russia. If you don’t speak the language and don’t have real connections that you can trust, these are no places for you to do business.

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