Open-pit laterite terraces and a processing plant at dusk.

LLP · East Africa and the DRC

From licensed ground.
To a cleared flight.

International consultancy and procurement for mining title, physical offtake, and the legal passage of cargo across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Straight with you — lot photography, licences and assay travel with the mandate, not on a public shelf.

Open a mandate View the desks
01Licences 02Metals 03Agricultural products 04Passage · air
Four desksLicences · Metals · Agricultural products · Passage
Seven jurisdictionsThe East African corridor, including the DRC
Physical offtakeOrigin named before the flight is named
A written deskMandates in writing. No retail bullion.
Wax-sealed files and a fountain pen. 01 · Licences

01 — Licences

Mining title that a ministry will actually read.

We take precious-metals ground in East Africa — including the DRC — from prospect to a licence file: local structure, statutory filings, export permissions, and the paper trail that keeps title from becoming a dispute two years later.

  • Prospecting, mining and export licensing
  • DRC and East African title architecture
  • Local participation and statutory filings
  • The file assembled for the ministry, the bank and the offtaker
Gold dore bars on volcanic stone. Air as usual · origin first

02 — Metals

Physical offtake, not a shop window.

Gold, copper cathodes, silver, coltan and tantalite, aluminium ingots, used rail. We source, diligence and move cargo. Origin is established before the flight is named. Air is the usual mode; sea is written only when the lot requires it.

  • Gold dore and refined, with chain of custody
  • Copper cathodes and industrial lots
  • Coltan / tantalite under title and origin
  • Aluminium ingots and used rail for export
Coffee terraces in dawn mist. CIF first · then FOB · air

03 — Agricultural products

CIF first, then FOB. The same file as a metal lot.

CIF first then FOB Air freight

Coffee, tea, sisal and white sugar. We write CIF as the working term. FOB is used when the buyer takes the aircraft. Most of this cargo flies. The file is built so a lot does not become a claim at JKIA, Entebbe or Kigali.

  • Coffee: CIF or FOB, air freight as standard
  • Tea: CIF first, FOB on instruction, highland origin
  • Sisal fibre offtake and export documents
  • White sugar, bulk and bagged, CIF or FOB

Agricultural products

Four cargoes. Two terms. One air file.

Coffee is written CIF or FOB. The rest follows the same sequence: origin, grade, contract, named airport.

Coffee cherries and parchment.

Coffee

CIF or FOB

Air freight as standard. Grade and origin named before the aircraft is named.

Air · CIF / FOB
Tea fields.

Tea

CIF first, then FOB

Highland origin. CIF is the working term. FOB where the buyer takes the flight.

Air · CIF first
Fibre sacks.

Sisal

CIF or FOB

Fibre offtake. Air unless the lot is too heavy to lift. Export documents in the same file.

Air unless the lot cannot fly
Bagged white sugar.

White sugar

CIF or FOB

Bulk and bagged. Named East African airport in the contract.

Air · CIF / FOB

Working term

CIF

Cost, insurance and freight to the named airport. We write the aircraft. This is how most agricultural lots leave East Africa.

  • Named East African airport in the contract
  • Insurance written through to the gate
  • Air waybill in the same file as origin and grade

On instruction

FOB

Free on board at the named airport. The buyer takes the aircraft from JKIA, Entebbe, Kigali or whichever gate is written in.

  • Buyer nominates the flight
  • Origin, packing and customs still sit on this desk
  • Same diligence as CIF. Different party on the air waybill.
Cargo aircraft on an East African apron at dusk. Air first · sea only if it cannot fly

04 — Passage

Air first. Sea where the lot requires it.

Air freight East African airports Sea as exception

Legal and procurement for goods moving in or out of East Africa. Most mandates leave by air: airway bill, customs, the gate. Sea, Mombasa and Dar, is written only when the cargo cannot fly. The contract names the airport before anyone argues at the border.

  • Air as the working mode: JKIA, Entebbe, Kigali, JNIA, Juba, Goma
  • Ten East African airports named in the file
  • Sea as the exception: Mombasa and Dar es Salaam
  • CIF and FOB written into the same air file

Usual mode

Air freight across East Africa

The file names the airport. Customs and the border sit on the same page as the air waybill. Landlocked offtake still leaves by air unless the lot physically cannot.

NBOMBAEBBDARJROJUBKGLBJMGOMFBM

Exception

Sea

Mombasa and Dar es Salaam only when the lot cannot fly: used rail, heavy industrial, bulk that will not lift. The ports are not the default gate.

How a mandate is held

Three ways we sit on a file.

A mandate is not a newsletter signup. It names a desk, a jurisdiction, and enough of the file for us to know whether we can hold it.

Title

Licensing mandate

We structure the local vehicle, the applications, and the statutory sequence for precious-metals mining in East Africa and the DRC. The deliverable is a file a ministry, a bank and an offtaker can all read.

  • Title architecture and local participation
  • Prospecting through export permissions
  • Written reporting to the instructing desk

Offtake

Procurement mandate

We source and diligence physical lots — metals or agricultural products — and assemble origin, assay and counterparties before anyone names a flight. Atmosphere on this site is not inventory.

  • Origin, assay and chain of custody
  • KYC on every counterparty we will name
  • Lot photography travels with the file

Passage

Shipping & counsel mandate

We run the legal and logistical passage. Air is the usual mode. Sea is written when the lot cannot fly. Customs, the border, and the contracts that keep cargo from becoming a dispute between origin and the aircraft.

  • Air waybill, CIF and FOB
  • East African airports as the working gates
  • Sea only where the cargo requires it

Method

How a lot leaves.

The same four steps whether the cargo is dore, copper, coffee or a licence itself. Skip one and the shipment becomes a dispute.

01 Title

Name the ground

Licence, local structure, statutory file. Ground that cannot be named cannot be sold. This is where DRC and East African title either holds or it does not.

02 Source

Name the lot

Offtake, counterparties, origin. We name the lot before we name the flight. Unnamed cargo is not a mandate we will hold.

03 Diligence

Name the proof

Assay, KYC, chain of custody. Proof of work travels with the mandate — certificates, lot photography, the origin story that will survive a bank.

04 Passage

Name the flight

Air waybill, customs, counsel. The airport is the last page of the same document — JKIA, Entebbe, Kigali, JNIA — not a separate conversation at the apron. Sea is named only when the lot cannot fly.

Commodities

What the desks can move.

These photographs describe the corridor. Current lots, licences and assay sit on the mandate when you have a file to send — not here as a catalogue.

Gold dore bars
GoldDore and refined · origin and chain of custody first
Copper cathodes
Copper cathodesIndustrial offtake
Coltan
Coltan / TantaliteTitle and origin
Coffee
CoffeeCIF or FOB · air freight
Tea
TeaCIF first, then FOB · air
Aluminium ingots
Aluminium ingotsPhysical lots
Sugar and fibre sacks
Sisal & white sugarCIF or FOB
Cargo aircraft
PassageAir first · East African airports · CIF / FOB
Counsel table
Silver · used rail · other cargoUnder the same file

Corridor

Seven jurisdictions. One passage.

We work the East African corridor as one legal and logistical file, not seven separate ones. Airports and desks below.

01 · JKIA / Moi

Kenya

Nairobi paper. Cargo leaves JKIA as standard; Moi International when the lot is coastal. Mombasa sea is the exception.

NBO · MBA
02 · Entebbe

Uganda

Coffee, gold, and landlocked offtake. Entebbe is the air gate; Mombasa and Dar only if the lot cannot fly.

EBB
03 · JNIA / JRO

Tanzania

Julius Nyerere and Kilimanjaro for air. Dar es Salaam port when the cargo is sea-bound.

DAR · JRO
04 · Juba

South Sudan

A new corridor. Counsel and procurement; Juba International as the working gate.

JUB
05 · Kigali

Rwanda

Kigali International for air offtake, transit, and specialty agricultural products.

KGL
06 · Goma / Lubumbashi

DRC Congo

Licensing, copper, gold, coltan. Air through Goma and Lubumbashi; sea only when the lot requires it.

GOM · FBM
07 · Bujumbura

Burundi

Melchior Ndadaye for air. Agricultural products and specialty minerals on the lakeside edge.

BJM
Cross-corridor

One file

Landlocked offtake is written as origin, transit and a named airport — not as three separate deals.

Air gates · working list

East African airports, named in the file.

Air is the usual mode. These are the gates we write. Sea — Mombasa and Dar — is named only when the lot cannot fly.

NBOJomo Kenyatta InternationalNairobi · KenyaAir
MBAMoi InternationalMombasa · KenyaAir
EBBEntebbe InternationalUgandaAir
DARJulius Nyerere InternationalDar es Salaam · TanzaniaAir
JROKilimanjaro InternationalTanzaniaAir
JUBJuba InternationalSouth SudanAir
KGLKigali InternationalRwandaAir
BJMMelchior Ndadaye InternationalBujumbura · BurundiAir
GOMGoma InternationalDRCAir
FBMLubumbashi InternationalDRCAir
SEAMombasa · Dar es Salaam portsOnly if the lot cannot flySea exception
CIF / FOBCIF is the working term. FOB on instruction.Agricultural products & metalsAir as standard
Highway corridor toward a distant port.

The hinterland

Landlocked cargo is a corridor problem, not a country problem.

Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan do not fail at the farm or the pit. They fail at the border, the transit bond, and the flight that was never named in the same document. We write that document as one — origin, air waybill, CIF or FOB.

Copper cathodes in warehouse light.

Diligence & governance

What we will put our name on — and what we will not.

International counterparties, banks and ministries do not buy a conversation. They buy a file. We will not present a lot, a licence or a cargo we cannot diligence.

  • KYC on every counterparty we will name
  • Origin, assay and chain of custody before offtake
  • No unnamed lots, no retail bullion, no walk-in gold
  • Proof of work travels with the mandate, not as marketing

Who sits on the file

The desks we write for.

We are a consultancy and procurement house. We sit between title holders, offtakers, counsel and the aircraft — not as a shop, and not as a crowd.

Title holders

Miners, local structure, and the parties who need a licence file that will survive a ministry and a bank.

Offtakers

Trading desks and industrial buyers who need origin named, assay attached, and a lot that can actually move.

Counsel & finance

Lawyers and banks on the same file: KYC, chain of custody, and contracts that do not die at the border.

Passage

Forwarders, customs, and the people who have to put a name on a flight. JKIA, Entebbe, Kigali, JNIA — sea only when the lot cannot fly.

Notes from the desk

What this corridor actually turns on.

Unsigned briefings. Not a newsroom. Three files we see stall again and again — and how we write them so they leave.

Counsel table

Licences · DRC & East Africa

Title that survives a ministry

A licence file is not a stack of stamps. It is local structure, statutory sequence, and a paper trail a bank can still read in two years. That is the first desk.

 Air freight

Passage · air first

JKIA, Entebbe, or Kigali

The hinterland does not choose a gate in a WhatsApp. The airport is named in the same document as origin, CIF or FOB, and customs. Sea is the exception.

 Tea

Agricultural products · the same file

Coffee is CIF or FOB

Grade, contract and air freight are still origin, counterparty and a shipping file. CIF is the working term; FOB where the buyer takes the aircraft.
Faceted chrome crystal.

The house

We sit between the licence, the lot, and the flight.

Shard Chrome Global Consultants LLP is a consultancy and procurement house. We take the quiet work: title, offtake, assay, charter, and the counsel that lets a shipment leave.

We do not operate as a retail bullion shop. We do not publish lots we cannot stand behind. When you have licences, assay certificates and product photography, they sit on this desk. Until then the house is the protocol, not a catalogue.

  • LLP structure · written mandates only
  • East Africa and the DRC as one corridor
  • Four desks, one file

FAQ

Before you write.

If the file is real, the rest is a conversation in writing. These are the questions that arrive first.

No. This is a consultancy and procurement house. We do not accept unsolicited retail bullion. Write with a lot, a licence, or a corridor in mind.

Yes. Title architecture for precious-metals mining in East Africa, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the first desk — local structure, statutory sequence, and the file a ministry will read.

With the mandate. Assay, licences and lot photography travel with the file, not as a public gallery on this site.

Coffee, tea, sisal and white sugar. Written CIF first, FOB on instruction. Air freight as standard. Origin, grade, contract, airway bill — the same sequence as metals.

The fourth desk is passage: legal and procurement for cargo moving in or out of East Africa, mostly by air. Used rail and heavy industrial lots may go by sea. Airports across the corridor are named in the file.

Name the desk, the jurisdiction, and enough of the file — licence, lot, cargo, timeline — for us to know whether we can hold it. We reply in writing.

The desk

Write with a lot.
We reply in writing.

Name the desk, the jurisdiction, and enough of the file for us to know whether we can hold it.

Choose a desk

The desk has the file.

A written reply follows if the mandate is one we can hold.