Fekadu Degafe

New Capabilities

Advocated local refining to cut costs and hold gold reserves at home

Ethiopia opened its first precious metals refinery on October 10, ending a long practice of shipping raw gold abroad for processing. The $50 million plant at Bole Lemi Special Economic Zone in Addis Ababa is built to handle more than 600 tonnes of gold and silver a year. That is more than 13 times the 44 tonnes of gold Ethiopia produced in the fiscal year that ended in July.

Updated Oct 21