OECD’s 2025 Policy Brief on Illicit Gold Flows warns that bulk maritime shipments of unrefined gold face high risks of ML and illegal trade due to weak tracking, mis-invoicing, and blending with other metals

The 2025 OECD report finds that gold concentrates — often exported as raw ore or “precious-metals concentrate” under HS code 261690 — present attractive opportunities for trade-based money laundering and gold laundering because they are seldom tracked, easily mis-declared, and transported under weak customs surveillance across maritime routes. It concludes that existing supply-chain and regulatory frameworks are insufficient: without stronger due diligence, better transparency, improved tracking and tighter customs oversight, this trade will continue facilitating crime-funded laundering, illicit capital flows and corruption tied to gold extraction and trade…