Dirty Gold

DW (2025)

Film Review

With the largest gold refineries in the world, Switzerland refines half the world’s gold. Under growing criticism from activists for processing “dirty” gold (gold linked to child labor, terrorist activity, mercury contamination or rainforest destruction), Swiss gold refineries are seeking to upgrade governmental regulations to create a more level playing field.

Switzerland first became a gold refining haven when Hitler’s turned to them to melt down gold they stole from Jews and the national banks of occupied countries. Because countries outside of Germany refused to accept the Reichsmark as currency, the Third Reich onducted all its foreign trade in gold. The Swiss also helped apartheid South Africa evade global sanctions. At present Switzerland still processes Russian gold despite Russian sanctions.

Each of the four major Swiss banks has its own refinery. Filmmaker Dave Leins attempted to visit all of the four of them but only Metalor allowed him in. Metalor can trace the source of the gold they receive from trace levels of silver, copper and other minerals.

Lein also speaks with an executive from Vulcambi, a gold refinery that left the federation of Swiss gold refineries last year. Vulcambi accepts gold from Dubai’s infamous gold black market (see The Gold Mafia), as well as the African black market. A number of black market mines treat ore with industrial levels of mercury to separate gold from other metals. This subjects million of nearby residents to deadly mercury levels.

He also visits several of the black market mines in Ghana and local gold shops that illegally buy gold without ascertaining its source (under Ghanaian law gold merchants must record the source of all the gold they buy and submit monthly returns). The merchant, in turn, sells it on to refineries in Dubai.

In March 2025 the Swiss National Council passed the Precious Metals Control Act. This would prohibit all Swiss gold refiners from accepting any gold from Dubai and require strict documentation of all gold they accept for refining. To become law the Swiss Council of State must ratify it.