Race to refine: the bid to clean up Africa’s gold rush

FILE PHOTO: An employee uses a hammer to clean a gold ingot during the refining process at AGR (African Gold Refinery) in Entebbe, Uganda, October 4, 2018. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

ENTEBBE (Reuters) - In a refinery just outside Uganda's main airport, workers slip bars of freshly refined gold into clear plastic bags sealed with a sticker of the national flag - black, yellow and red - and the label "Ugandan's Treasure."

Uganda produces little gold of its own. Alain Goetz, who set up the refinery, says that by branding gold from abroad as Ugandan, the operation is merely imitating others - for example, the Swiss don't mine the gold they refine in Switzerland.