Gold Standard
You could say the gold rush began back in Hanover. Twins Ed Cornew ’18 and Tom Cornew ’18, Th’18, had shown a penchant for entrepreneurialism as students through their startup, Lone Pine Repairs. “We would fix all the iPhones on Sunday mornings that the drunk students would break over the weekend,” says Tom.
The Apple tech repair business proved successful, generating $60,000 in annual profits. The brothers learned about customer acquisition, payment processing, and the gumption needed to take on financial risk. These skills proved useful when they got an idea for another business—gold mining.
Samwel Bahebe ’18, their friend and fellow member of Chi Heorot, grew up in Mwanza, Tanzania. Bahebe was a chemical engineering and earth sciences major, Tom was studying mechanical engineering, and Ed was pursuing economics and psychology with minors in human-centered design and architecture. Bahebe turned to the Cornews for help with a problem he wanted to solve in Tanzania. In developing countries, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) relies on a rudimentary method that is extremely harmful—crushing rocks by hand with small tools and using mercury as an extractive agent.
The health effects from this neurotoxin can be debilitating and even deadly. The World Health Organization has identified mercury as one of the top 10 chemicals of major public health concern, and more than a third of all mercury polluting the earth comes from small-scale gold mining. Mercury also contaminates food sources through bioaccumulation.
Bahebe wanted to create a mercury retort—a heating method to safely separate mercury from gold—to mitigate its effects. But when the Cornews flew to Tanzania to visit mining sites and processing centers in winter of their senior year, they realized retorts would not be sufficient. The entire system needed modernization, and they wanted to be part of the solution. They walked away from the trip energized and ready to establish a company that could help transform an industry in need of safe processing methods while generating lucrative returns.
When Ed approached economics prof Bruce Sacerdote ’90 for his thoughts on acquiring investors, the professor said he would put up money, but he wanted to see proof of concept. The challenge: export gold before graduation. If the students were successful, he would invest.
The race was on. At the time the Tanzanian government had temporarily banned all gold concentrate exports due to a tax evasion dispute with Acacia Mining. “It was a nightmare,” Bahebe recalls. “I remember lots of sleepless nights.”
After acquiring all necessary paperwork, Bahebe’s brother flew from Tanzania to the United States and—despite a run-in with customs agents—showed up at the 2018 Commencement with a single piece of gold. “By God’s grace, we had this small, special window where the country had just reopened,” Bahebe says.
The trio had risen to the occasion, and Sacerdote followed through with his promise. He also connected the classmates with a sales rep at a Dallas-based refinery who would serve as a mentor and coach them through due diligence. “I could tell they had so much entrepreneurial energy that they would find ways to expand and enhance what they were doing to turn it into a real company,” Sacerdote says. He has remained involved throughout their journey, which he describes as “tremendously rewarding.”
The classmates named their mining company Mwamba because it means “rock” in Swahili; when miners find a gold-rich quartz vein they often exclaim “Mwamba!” The Cornews and Bahebe have worked hard to get people to take them seriously. It was difficult attracting investors at first because, Tom says, “It sounds like the Nigerian prince scam—‘Give me money to go to Africa and get gold, and I promise I’ll return you more.’ ”
As with any startup, their venture has weathered its share of bumps. They initially pursued an acquisition by a public company, but the deal fell through. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. It was a deflating time, but just as the trio had persisted amid adversity during their senior year, they found a way to regain momentum and turn things around. They networked with fellow alumni. Geologist Mac Jackson ’83 became an investor and Mwamba’s exploration director. Banker Fraser Marcus ’76 joined their advisory board.
Environmental Ethics
In contrast to the manual mercury method that has been used for thousands of years, Mwamba uses carbon in pulp (CIP) at its plant in Geita, Tanzania—a highly efficient, contained technology for processing large volumes of ore. By formalizing production with machinery, Mwamba has increased gold extraction from ore from 30 percent to upwards of 90 percent. The three founders have entered a joint venture with Barrick Mining Corp., the second-largest gold producer in the world, to explore 1,325 square kilometers of the Nzega Greenstone Belt. They’ve also started a joint venture with the University of Dar es Salaam Mineral Resources Institute to reopen a dormant mine.
Paramount to Mwamba’s mission is community buy-in. Ed Cornew serves as an advisor to the UN’s planetGOLD program, which works in partnership with governments, the private sector, and ASGM communities to improve small-scale mining. A recent World Gold Council report hails Mwamba for mercury-free processing and its founders’ efforts to legitimize operations in an industry that has traditionally been rife with money laundering, black markets, and child labor.
Ed says they hope luxury jewelers and tech companies will want to source their gold from an ethical, “conflict-free” company—one that treats employees fairly, upholds safety standards, and cares about Tanzania’s environment. Beyond improving labor practices, Mwamba aims to uplift local communities through social impact. The company formed a soccer league for mining staff, renovated a primary school, and is partnering with local NGOs on various projects.
“What we’re selling is a community-development solution. The villain is poverty, and you can’t blame someone for reaching for the best option on the table,” says Ed. “The only response is to make that option better.”
