Ann: Quarterly Activities and Cashflow Report, page-10

Usually it is funded from indudtry types further along the process chain.
Funds are advanced back down the chain in good faith and trust, scouts go out to these places and become established through people that have some localised legitimacy to be there. (Illegal miners).
They are generally well funded and many buyers from as many different sources can be in competition and prices can be quite high considering it is unrefined.
It tends to have a lot of political and military or constabulary ties attached.
Alternatively local bussinessmen try their hand at it and move it to nearby refining facilities wherever that may be, which again tends be agents for larger LME accredited processors.
And then there is the really dark funding sources, but lets not talk about that.
These types generally play hard as they have usually advanced a scary amount of cash out into the remote area somewhere.