US sanctions Rwandan refinery in Congo gold smuggling network

The US has sanctioned Rwanda’s Gasabo Gold Refinery Ltd. for fueling conflict by processing gold stolen from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.  

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who have occupied eastern Congo’s two biggest cities for more than a year, have been trafficking gold to Gasabo with the help of Rwanda’s army, the US government said Thursday. 

The US “will not allow rogue groups to profit from the illicit mineral trade and destabilize the region,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement. The sanctions demonstrate the US “will impose consequences on those who profit from eastern DRC’s suffering,” Bessent added. 

Calls placed to Gasabo after normal business hours did not connect on Thursday. The company did not respond to emails and messages requesting comment, nor did Rwanda’s government. 

Rwanda was on track to export over $2 billion of gold last year, according to International Monetary Fund projections, until the European Union sanctioned Gasabo in March 2025 for processing smuggled gold from rebel-controlled mines in Congo. 

Rwanda, a Central African nation that has little gold within its borders, ended up shipping $517 million of the metal in 2025 — about a fifth of total export earnings — down from $1.5 billion the previous year, according to IMF data published this month. 

Rwanda and Congo signed a peace agreement witnessed by President Donald Trump last December. Since then the Trump administration has expressed increasing exasperation over Rwanda’s continued support for the M23 rebels. 

In March, the Treasury Department sanctioned the entire Rwandan army for backing the M23, who were already under US sanctions.  

The rebel group has used Congo’s mineral wealth, including its gold, “to purchase weapons and equipment, pay fighters, and commit abuses targeting Congolese civilians,” the US Treasury said. “Rwandan government forces have had strict oversight of the gold until it reached Gasabo Gold.”

The US said that in early 2026 at least 60 kilograms of gold, representing millions of dollars in value, were moved from eastern Congo to Gasabo by the Rwanda Defense Force and M23.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned Gasabo chairman Jean Malic Kalima and its general manager, as well as three other companies the US said Kalima controls: Bugambira Mines Ltd., Wolfram Mining and Processing Ltd., and Rwinkwavu Mining Corporation Ltd.

Bugambira and Wolfram Mining did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment placed after hours. An email to the general email on Bugambira’s website bounced back. Bloomberg could not immediately find contact information for Rwinkwavu Mining.

(By Michael J. Kavanagh)