Mining and Trade of Minerals

Soko Business Hub is actively involved in the mining and trade of valuable minerals, focusing on copper, gold, and diamonds. With more than 15 years of experience in the sector, the company works closely with mining sites and refining processes to ensure quality minerals reach global markets.

Gold Trade and Refining

Gold trade is a major part of the mineral business. When gold is first mined from the ground, it usually contains dust and other impurities that must be removed to obtain pure gold. The refining process extracts and separates gold from mined materials, doré, and recycled products.

Soko Business Hub is among the gold refining companies in Uganda and has been involved in this industry for over 15 years.

The most common refining methods used include:

Miller Process
This method uses gaseous chlorine to remove impurities when gold reaches its melting point. The impurities form a separate layer on the surface of the molten gold, leaving purified gold beneath. The Miller process is fast and simple, producing gold with a purity level of about 99.5 percent.

Wohlwill Process
This process increases the purity of gold to about 99.99 percent using electrolysis. A casting of impure gold is placed into an electrolyte solution containing hydrochloric acid and gold chloride. When electric current is applied, pure gold collects at the cathode while impurities remain in the solution or residue.

Aqua Regia Refining Method
Another traditional refining method is aqua regia, a chemical process that uses nitric acid and hydrochloric acid to dissolve and purify gold. This method has been used for centuries. Modern improvements have introduced safer alternatives such as pelletized substitutes for nitric acid and specialized refining systems designed to reduce harmful fumes during the process.

Diamond Trade

At our local miners sites which stretches 20 Km,They mine diamond and is sold by the carat[shown as ct] which is actually a unit of weight,though most think of a carat in terms of size.The world “carat” comes from the “carob” seed,the original unit of measure for diamond traders. Today,a carat is equal to exactly the weight of a paper clip].Carat weight is unrelated to the similar sounding karat,which refers to gold’s purity.

Two diamonds of equal carat weight can have very different costs based on other factors[such as cut color and clarity].In understanding the importance of carat weight, know the partner. If the recipient’s heart is set on a certain size diamond,then carat weight will probably be the most important factor in your search until the desired size is attained. At that point, other criteria will take on more importance. Most women can tell you the carat weight and shape of their ideal diamond, and most men can tell you the price.

As carat size of a diamond increases, the diamond’s price increases at an increasing rate.

Why?
Because the larger the diamond, the more the increasingly rare it is. Fewer than one is one million mined rough stones are large enough to produce a finished 1 carat diamond. So,as carat weight increases, you will typically pay more not only in total, but on a price per carat basis as well. We shall be happy to sell to you diamonds of good carat.

Copper Mining

Copper cathode mining is one of the key mineral activities associated with the company’s operations. Copper is an essential industrial metal widely used in electrical systems, construction, and manufacturing. Through responsible mining and sourcing, the company participates in the supply chain that delivers copper cathodes for industrial and commercial use.