Niamey has handed controversial Kenyan businessman Kamlesh Pattni a fresh lifeline, signing him up to build the country’s first home-grown gold refinery and gemstone hub.
The agreement, inked on Wednesday, 23 April 2025, creates Royal Gold Niger SA, a joint venture between Niger’s government and Dubai-registered Suvarna Royal Gold Trading LLC, where Pattni is chief executive.
Nigerien ministers Abarchi Ousmane (Mines) and Mamane Sidi (Budget) presided over the ceremony at Uranium House, as Pattni put pen to paper.
“From now on, Niger’s gold will not only be extracted; it will be transformed here, for the benefit of Nigeriens,” declared Mines Minister Ousmane, hailing the pact as a “structural revolution.”
Military rulers under the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland (CNSP) have framed the project as a leap towards economic self-reliance. Officials say Niger will hold an equity stake, ensuring state oversight as the plant refines bullion, manufactures jewellery, and polishes gemstones on site.
Ousmane argued that formalising a largely artisanal sector will curb smuggling and swell tax revenues: “Every gram of gold transformed in Niger generates value for our people.”
Pattni, for his part, called the venture “in line with Niger’s vision for sustainable development.”
Pattni’s chequered past
The warm reception in Niamey contrasts sharply with Pattni’s reputation abroad. He first hit global headlines in the 1990s as the alleged mastermind of Kenya’s Goldenberg scandal, a KSh 13.5 billion export-compensation scheme that bled the exchequer.
More recently, the United States and the United Kingdom slapped asset freezes and travel bans on Pattni and associates, accusing them of running a gold-smuggling and money-laundering network spanning Zimbabwe, Dubai, and Kenya.
A December 2024 notice from Washington’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) explicitly named Pattni as the leader of the network.
What happens next?
Construction timelines for the Niamey refinery have not been published, but officials insist the plant will be fully integrated – sourcing ore from Niger’s artisanal pits, refining it to international standards, and exporting finished jewellery.
For Niger, the deal is a risky bid to capture more value from its mineral wealth. For Pattni, it is a high-stakes comeback – one likely to test whether sanctions and a chequered record can derail an ambitious African industrial project.
