Saracens under pressure to drop main sponsor due to illicit gold links

Environmental campaigners have urged London rugby club Saracens to cut ties with StoneX, its main sponsor, after revelations that it bought illicit gold from the Amazon rainforest.

Last week, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and Repórter Brasil revealed that StoneX bought gold from a company linked to illegal mining, deforestation and mercury pollution in Brazil. A £3.7m gold cargo bound for StoneX in September 2023 contained almost half a million pounds worth of metal – some 16% of the consignment – sourced from “wildcat” (informal) miners sanctioned by Brazil’s environment agency, an analysis of leaked documents found.

In response to the findings, Amazon Watch programme director Christian Poirier told the i Paper: “Any organisation concerned with environmental preservation and human rights cannot maintain direct or indirect links to Brazil’s disastrous illegal gold-mining industry.

“Saracens has a duty to sever ties with its sponsor or share its potential complicity in one of today’s primary drivers of destruction in Amazonian Indigenous lands and communities.”

As well as threats to local and Indigenous populations, “wildcat” mining has been linked to deforestation and toxic pollution in the world’s largest rainforest, which is a vital buffer in the fight against catastrophic climate change.

Daniela Montalto, senior forests campaigner for Greenpeace UK, told the i Paper: “Saracens should know [that] their brand could share in the shame of forest destruction, crime, pollution, poisoning and sickness that is intrinsic to illegal Amazonian gold mining.”

Saracens is one of Englands most well-supported rugby clubs with both its men’s and women’s teams competing in their respective top divisions. It first partnered with StoneX, a financial services company headquartered in the US, in 2020 and the company became the club’s main sponsor in 2021. The name is emblazoned on the players’ shirts and above the main stand in the club’s north London stadium.

Announcing the deal in 2020, Saracens’ then CEO-Lucy Wray, said: “We are really excited to enter this new, long-term partnership with StoneX […] I can safely say that they share our ambition and values.”

StoneX’s links to the illicit gold came via Coluna, the Brazilian company it was buying from, which had in turn sourced metal from sanctioned miners. The two companies were still doing business as recently as October 2024, when StoneX bought another two batches of gold for £1.2m, though it is not known whether any of this gold was illicit.

StoneX told TBIJ it is a responsible member of the global precious metals industry and conducts extensive due diligence. The company added that it follows robust policies and processes to verify the legitimacy of origin of all precious metals it acquires, sourcing all such metals in strict compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

StoneX also said that it collected the required certificates of origin and background documentation for the gold that was intercepted and added that the Brazilian exporter was licensed by Brazil’s Central Bank.

Saracens did not respond to the i Paper’s request for comment.