What the lawsuit alleges
At the center are two deaths at North Mara in 2019. The families argue the LBMA's outsized role in the bullion market meant it could have prevented the incidents and shares blame. Their filings say MMTC-PAMP, a unit of MKS PAMP Group, got gentler handling when concerns about violence at the mine emerged.
They point to messages shown in court to argue preferential treatment. In 2021, then Perth Mint CEO Richard Hayes wrote that the usual accreditation steps were "waived," creating "significant disquiet in the refiner community." An executive at Swiss refiner Metalor questioned how MMTC-PAMP was moved to full LBMA membership in 2021, asserting that the change let its then-chairman, Mehdi Barkhordar - previously a MKS PAMP Group vice chairman - keep his seat on the LBMA board. Hayes separately said Barkhordar's employer change while staying on the board "could have the appearance of something other than that the LBMA wishes to portray."
The claimants also say the LBMA has been tougher with others on supply-chain risks, citing the Australian refiner Perth Mint as an example, and argue there is an "extraordinary symbiosis between the LBMA and the MKS PAMP Group."
How the LBMA responded
The LBMA says the allegations are constructed by lawyers and that the association had no role in the deaths. It argues it is independent, followed its established process on North Mara, and that MMTC-PAMP continued to meet responsible-sourcing rules.
On governance, the LBMA says refinery executives did not decide whether MMTC-PAMP kept its accreditation, as those calls sit with staff-only committees. It adds that leadership pay, including the CEO's, is set using standard independent benchmarking and a remuneration committee. As for the "waiver," the LBMA says applicants connected to an already accredited refinery may legitimately skip parts of the process, and that similar exceptions have been made elsewhere.
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A representative for MKS PAMP Group said the company could not comment on the merits of ongoing court proceedings where neither the firm nor any of its entities is identified as a party or defendant.
Why it matters for the gold trade
The LBMA is small but punches above its weight through the Good Delivery List, which sets who can provide bars to London - the world's biggest gold hub - and is relied on by market users and futures venues such as CME Group Inc. Staying on that list requires proving adherence to responsible-sourcing rules, a constant pressure point for refiners given the reputational and commercial fallout if they stumble.
That fragility showed up in correspondence from Perth Mint to the LBMA displayed in court: the public disclosure of a 2020 sourcing review inflicted "significant reputational damage" and "significant commercial loss," and led HSBC Holdings Plc to pause dealings with the refiner.
Internal LBMA discussions disclosed in court also underscored how sensitive this is. Staff noted that if ties with Barrick Mining Corp., the owner of North Mara, were cut, the miner could become "unpalatable" to most accredited refiners, leaving it with few options beyond routing its output to a refiner outside the Good Delivery system. The LBMA warned that such a shift could heighten human rights risks if the alternative refiner performed fewer provenance checks.
The investor angle
Two big stakes are in play. First, the lawsuit could reshape how the industry polices supply chains and, by extension, who gets access to major trading hubs and futures exchanges. Second, the case carries potential costs that the filings say could threaten the LBMA's finances, which would ripple across a market that leans on its standards.
In plain English: accreditation equals access, and access drives volumes and pricing power. The LBMA stresses it accredits refiners, not mines, and says that if a duty of care were imposed toward individuals further upstream, the association could not "withstand the resulting legal and financial exposures." Watch for any shifts in accreditation practices, signs of counterparties reassessing relationships after reputational hits, and whether the Good Delivery framework changes as the case unfolds.
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