https://wttlonline.com/stories/gold-concentrate-trade-as-under-policed-laundering-risk,14731

International trade in gold concentrates—unrefined, containerised material typically shipped by sea—has become a significant but under-examined channel for gold laundering and gold-based money laundering, new OECD brief warns.

While scrutiny of bullion and doré has increased, concentrates moving under HS code 261690 remain lightly tracked, difficult to price, and easy to mis-declare or mis-invoice, making them attractive for trade-based money laundering.

The report finds that in 2024 more than 15% of global primary gold production was shipped as concentrate, with trade data revealing sharp anomalies. Discrepancies between reported exports and imports for HS 261690 widened by roughly 400% between 2020 and 2024; the 2024 gap alone equaled about one-third of reported global concentrate imports by value. Such mismatches raise red flags for smuggling, fraud, and illicit financial flows.

Key vulnerabilities include the absence of price benchmarks, limited customs capacity to assay concentrates, blending at processing plants and smelters that obscures origin, tariff shifts that reset country-of-origin records, and the concealment of high-value by-product minerals. Maritime transport compounds the risk, as fewer than 2% of containers are inspected globally.

The OECD urges customs and enforcement agencies to strengthen port controls, invest in assay capacity, refine tariff classifications, and expand international information-sharing. It also calls on traders, processors, smelters, and shippers to apply enhanced due diligence to concentrate flows, treating them as a high-risk segment of the gold supply chain.