Mali to South Africa

Checked 2026-09-29

Public law and official guidance, published as research. Not legal, tax or financial advice.

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Mali South Africa

No bilateral instrument found. South Africa is Mali's main declared gold destination, taking 60.4% of 2025 exports, almost all industrial doré for refining. South Africa does not publish gold imported for processing, so there is no mirror figure.

How sure this page is

Primary law 1
Secondary 1

Read in full 1

OCR 1

Where practice departs from the law

What credible sources show happening that the law does not provide for.

Legal channel for Malian gold to the South Africa: every export needs the prior authorisation of Mali's Minister of Finance or another competent authority (Règlement 06/2024 art. 20; mining companies holding an exploitation and export licence are exempt from the request, Annex X), and artisanal or small-mine gold may be exported only by OMASP since 10 Apr 2026 (Ord. 2026-013 art. 3). Travellers may carry gold objects only up to 500 g without authorisation (art. 20). Declared industrial doré to South African refiners goes through this channel; refining abroad itself conflicts with Mali's Code art. 25 (see ml.div-refining-abroad).
Primary lawOCR
South Africa uses a strict special-trade system that leaves gold imported for processing out of its published statistics, so Malian doré refined in South Africa has no South African mirror. SWISSAID notes South African-reported imports from Mali of only 6-10 t a year for 2017-2023, well below Mali's declared exports.
Figures: SA-reported 6-10 t/yr vs Mali-reported 38 t (2023)
Secondary

What we could not obtain

Documents the research needed and could not get, where they might be, and why.

No gaps recorded

Routes using this pair

Routes the research composes from Mali to South Africa

Sources

REGLEMENT N° 06/2024/CM/UEMOA RELATIF AUX RELATIONS FINANCIERES EXTERIEURES DES ETATS MEMBRES DE L'UNION ECONOMIQUE ET MONETAIRE OUEST AFRICAINE (UEMOA)Open the source
Read in fullOCRConseil des Ministres de l’UEMOA. · Read 2026-09-29
Read in full 2026-09-29 (laws-ml pass; log laws/_work/ml-log.md).