The Ghana Gold Board says it has refined nearly nine tonnes of gold locally this year, marking a shift in efforts to retain more value from the country’s mineral resources.
Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, said the gold was aggregated by the Board and refined in Ghana, helping to create jobs while retaining refining fees and other associated benefits within the domestic economy.
“This year alone, nearly nine tonnes of gold aggregated by the GoldBod has been refined right here in Ghana,” Sammy Gyamfi said at the National Mining Dialogue in Accra on Monday, August 18.
“This is helping to create sustainable jobs while retaining refining fees and associated benefits in the Ghanaian economy.”
The development forms part of GoldBod’s broader strategy to move Ghana further into the gold value chain through local refining, jewellery manufacturing and other downstream activities.
Sammy Gyamfi said Ghana must move beyond the export of raw minerals and pursue policies that increase local ownership and value addition.
“If we want a new story, we must own more, refine more, process more, fabricate more and retain more,” he said.
According to him, Ghana has historically lost significant value from its mineral resources because ownership, financing, refining, services and downstream activities have largely been located outside the country.
He said GoldBod was established as a national value-retention instrument to bring greater transparency, traceability and Ghanaian participation into the gold trade, particularly within the artisanal and small-scale mining sector.
The Board is also planning to establish the Ghana Gold Village in partnership with the private sector to support local jewellery manufacturing, gold fabrication and access to international markets for Ghanaian gold products.
Sammy Gyamfi said the project, to be implemented through GoldBod Jewelry Limited, would serve as a platform for skills development, enterprise growth, employment and industrialisation.
GoldBod is also preparing to introduce a gold tokenisation programme in 2027, which is expected to promote fractional ownership of Ghana’s gold resources.
“Through this initiative, citizens with modest funds can participate in gold-backed investment opportunities,” Sammy Gyamfi said.
The push for increased local refining also extends to large-scale mining output. Under the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Programme, gold acquired from large-scale mining companies for national reserves is intended to be refined locally from July 1, 2026.
Source: Channel 1 News
