Kenya-based, East Africa-wide — built for a global market.
Base Aurum is a diversified gold business headquartered in Nairobi and operating across East Africa. We run leaching and processing sites, broker gold deals, and operate the verified trade that connects miners to the world. A processing company, not a speculative dig.
On the inside of a market the world finds opaque.
Gold is one of the oldest and most liquid markets on earth — yet the trade in African gold still runs largely on paper, handshakes and blind faith. Fake-gold and advance-fee fraud keep legitimate buyers away, while honest African producers are treated as guilty until proven innocent.
Base Aurum exists to close that gap. We began in Nyatike, Migori County — one of Kenya's richest informal gold zones, where artisanal mining supports livelihoods for nearly 40% of the county's population and an estimated 258,000 people mine directly or indirectly — and from that base we have grown across East Africa.
Most of that gold is still recovered with rudimentary crushing and mercury, then sold raw to middlemen far below its real value. We professionalise that chain: proper processing, certified testing, transparent rates and traceable provenance — so legitimate gold reaches premium markets, and the miners who produce it gain fair access to them.
Artisanal miners at the reef — Migori Greenstone Belt, Kenya
The local gold trade — where trust is won or lostWe turn informal supply into certified, traceable gold.
Within roughly 45 kilometres of our sites there is no certified processing or testing infrastructure. Miners have nowhere to prove what their gold is worth — so they sell low, and buyers stay wary.
Base Aurum changes the economics at both ends: modern carbon-in-leach recovery of 85–92% (versus 40–60% for mercury), a certified assay lab issuing stamped certificates, and escrow-coordinated deals where money only moves on verified delivery. Kenya's 2024 reopening of mining licences opened a narrow first-mover window — and we are building inside it.
Over five leaching projects across East Africa
Headquartered in Nairobi, Base Aurum runs leaching and processing sites across the region — two completed in Kenya's Migori County, and three more in development in Tanzania and Uganda.
Completed · Kenya
Nyatike (Osiri) Facility Completed
Our flagship leaching and ore-testing site, at the heart of the Migori Greenstone Belt and surrounded by an active artisanal mining community with no certified competitor nearby.
- CapabilityCarbon-in-leach plant plus a certified assay laboratory.
- Catchment500+ active miners selling gold daily; no certified processing within 45km.
- StatusCompleted and operational.
Rakwaro Site Completed
A completed leaching operation processing gold-bearing ore from the surrounding belt to modern recovery and environmental standards.
- CapabilityLeaching plant with ore crushing, milling and settling ponds.
- WaterBorehole and solar-powered system, reducing reliance on surface water.
- StatusCompleted and operational.
In development · Tanzania & Uganda
Geita Site In development
A new processing site in the Geita region — part of Tanzania's Lake Victoria Goldfields, one of Africa's most productive gold belts.
Karamoja Site In development
A leaching and processing site in Karamoja, north-eastern Uganda's fast-growing artisanal gold region.
A further site In development
A third regional site is in planning as our processing network expands deeper into Tanzania and Uganda.
Connected to mines across five countries
Through a vetted network across East Africa and beyond, we connect verified buyers to responsibly-sourced gold — every counterparty subject to KYC and OECD-aligned due diligence.
A look inside a Base Aurum site
Cleaner chemistry, shared value
Replacing mercury with managed, compliant processing — and making sure the communities that host us benefit.
Let's build the system of record for African gold.
Buyers, miners, cooperatives and partners — we'd like to hear from you.
Get in touch