About ARAM
A sourcing business, described accurately.
ARAM connects international buyers with African-origin materials through sourcing, verification, documentation and supply coordination — in two specialist categories.
Namib Desert — Sossusvlei, Namibia · FrankBothe, CC BY-SA 4.0
01What ARAM is
A sourcing, brokerage and distribution business for African-origin materials.
ARAM connects professional buyers with rare natural aromatics and strategic minerals of African origin. We do not claim to own every mine, farm or facility in our network. Our role is to identify supply, verify counterparties, document material, navigate export requirements and coordinate the route from origin to buyer.
Aromatics: rare essential oils, absolutes, resins and woods for perfumers, fragrance houses and cosmetic manufacturers. Minerals: cobalt, copper, lithium, graphite, rare earths, germanium, gold and other strategic materials for traders, processors and manufacturers.
Our difference is not that we list African commodities. It is that every offer comes with its origin, specification, export rules and due-diligence evidence attached — and that we say plainly when something cannot be supplied.
Who we serve
Professional buyers, qualified before anything restricted is shared.
Fragrance houses and perfumers
Oils, absolutes and resins by the lot, sampled first.
Cosmetics and ingredient manufacturers
Documented natural materials for formulation.
Mineral traders and processors
Concentrates, metals and ores on independent assay.
Industrial procurement teams
Specification-led sourcing with the paperwork in place.
Project developers and offtakers
Origin intelligence and introductions across the pipeline.
Qualified institutional buyers
KYC on both sides before terms or volumes move.
02Operating model
From origin to buyer, in seven hand-offs.
Each hand-off produces a record. By the time material reaches a buyer, its evidence file already exists.
Grading cured vanilla beans — Sambava, Madagascar — third-party operation · WRI Staff, CC BY 2.0
- 01
Origin
Country, region and, for minerals, the mine are identified and declared.
- 02
Producer
Distiller, cooperative, miner or exporter — the party that holds the material.
- 03
Verification
KYC, ownership, licences and sanctions screening on the producer.
- 04
Testing
Samples drawn; COA and GC-MS, or independent sampling and assay.
- 05
Documentation
Specifications, certificates, permits and custody records attached to the lot.
- 06
Logistics
Corridor chosen, containers inspected and sealed, export cleared.
- 07
Buyer
A verified buyer receives the material with its evidence file.
03Plainly
What we are, and what we are not.
Transparency about our role is part of the product. It tells you exactly which checks we own — and which come from independent parties.
What we are
- A sourcing businessWe find and assess supply at origin against a buyer's specification.
- A brokerWe introduce verified supply to verified buyers and manage the deal to shipment.
- A distributorWhere we hold stock, we sell it by lot, sample first.
- Procurement coordinatorsTesting, documentation, inspection and logistics run through one point of contact.
- Origin intelligenceExport rules, projects and producers across the continent, kept current and sourced.
What we are not
- A mine or farm ownerUnless a page states otherwise, the sites shown are third-party operations.
- A stockholder of everything listedCatalogue entries marked as samples are illustrative, not held inventory.
- A certification bodyCertificates come from laboratories, inspectors and authorities — not from ARAM.
- A laboratoryTests are performed by independent laboratories named on each report.
- A manufacturerWe do not process, blend or refine material ourselves.
04How we work
Source. Verify. Document. Supply.
Source
We identify and assess supply at origin, working toward direct relationships rather than layers of intermediate traders. Where a material is difficult to obtain legally, we say so instead of quietly substituting something else.
Verify
Origin declarations are checked against shipping and batch documentation for internal consistency. A lot marked Origin Verified has had that check completed. Where it has not, the badge is absent — which is the honest meaning of its absence.
Document
Documentation is catalogued per lot: what exists, what does not, and who can access it. We never supply a report from one lot as though it described another, and we do not publish a document we do not hold.
Supply
Direct purchase for materials with a verified price, and quotation for scarce, regulated and volume requirements. Sample-first, because natural materials vary between batches and a specification alone will not tell you whether a material works.
What we will never do
- Invent customer testimonials, reviews or sales figures.
- Claim certifications, laboratory accreditation or facility ownership we do not hold.
- State an origin that is not attached to the product record.
- Publish a document we do not have, or present one lot's report as another's.
- Describe a material as ethical or sustainable without evidence attached to the lot.
- Ship a CITES-listed material without a documented permit pathway to the destination.
- List tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold without mine-of-origin evidence.
- Offer a mineral where the export rules of the producing country cannot be met.
- Ask a buyer for advance fees to release documents or cargo.
The language we use instead
- “Documentation available for qualifying lots.”
- “Independent testing available upon request.”
- “Origin information is provided at lot level where available.”
- “Supplier and batch verification is part of our sourcing process.”
- “Not currently available.”
Data status
How demonstration data is marked
This site is populated with clearly marked sample data for demonstration. Quantities, lots, offers and documentation shown are illustrative and are not offers to sell.
- Accurate
- Botanical names, extraction methods, CITES status; mineral uses, traded grades, USGS supply data, UN Comtrade flows, export rules, projects and mine-site context — each with its source.
- Illustrative
- Aromatic prices, lot codes, quantities, harvest dates and supplier records; mineral offers and volumes.
- Absent
- No certificate, COA, GC-MS or permit file has been generated. The download route returns an explicit error rather than a placeholder document.
Every affected record carries a sample-data indicator in the interface. The architecture is built so real verified records replace this data without code changes.