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Jun 24, 2023

PwC audit unearths rip

When Deloitte won the contract to become the auditor of the world’s biggest goldmine, it was a big coup. The Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company runs the vast Muruntau mine in the deserts of

When Deloitte won the contract to become the auditor of the world’s biggest goldmine, it was a big coup.

The Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Company runs the vast Muruntau mine in the deserts of Uzbekistan, where gold was first discovered in 1958. Visible from space, it spans 3.5km by 2.5km and produces two million ounces of gold a year.

The London arms of JPMorgan and Citi took part in a $1.2 billion syndicated loan together last year to help Navoi modernise. But Deloitte’s victory in winning the contract to audit Navoi’s first full set of western-standard financial statements could prove an embarrassment. For, within months of its audit for 2020 and 2021 being signed off last May, a report, by the rival PwC concluded that