⏱ 1 min read
Background
MKS, founded in 1979 in Geneva by a Lebanese gold broker, operates in a dozen countries. Its subsidiary PAMP runs a refinery in Ticino and the group supplies bars to banks and the luxury industry.
The key points
A trial opened in London on 7 October 2026 against the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), according to Watson cited by the Tribune de Genève. MKS PAMP is not among the defendants, but is indirectly involved.
The complaint was brought by the families of two small-scale miners killed by police in 2019 in the Mara region of Tanzania. Gold from Mara was refined by a joint venture between MKS PAMP and Indian state-owned company MMTC.
Key figures
- Year MKS was founded in Geneva: 1979.
- Countries where the group operates: around a dozen.
- Age of the two miners killed: 23.
- End of the joint venture's sourcing of Mara gold: 2023.
What it means for businesses
The LBMA awards a label guaranteeing the reliability of gold and of extraction conditions. The verdict could shake the gold market's certification system.
Who says what
According to the complaint, the LBMA could have withdrawn its label from the refinery's parent company to force the operators to act. The joint venture, informed of the deaths, continued to refine this gold until 2023.
Further reading
Sources
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