Ghana’s aggressive pivot toward domestic mineral processing is yielding major economic dividends, marked by the creation of nearly 5,000 direct jobs and a significant reduction in raw gold exports, officials revealed on Tuesday.
Presenting an operational update at the Mining in Motion summit in Accra on Tuesday, Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi outlined how recent structural reforms are transforming the nation’s precious minerals framework from simple extraction into an industrial powerhouse.
“GoldBod reforms have created 4,866 direct jobs in less than two years,” Gyamfi announced. “We are demonstrating that resource governance is not just about collection and regulation it is about tangible industrial growth, employment creation, and economic sovereignty.”
Central to this transformation is GoldBod’s direct purchase program, which diverts raw gold from traditional export channels straight into domestic processing facilities. Gyamfi revealed that over the past two months alone, the state board has procured 1.8 tonnes of raw bullion from large-scale mining conglomerates to supply domestic refineries and bolster national reserves.
“Now we are buying. We started buying two months ago and so far we’ve bought 1.8 tons from large-scale mining companies, and we buy that in raw form in Ghana,” Gyamfi explained. “We refine it locally and we add it to the reserves.”
The rapid rise in domestic refining capacity which currently processes 95 percent of all artisanal and small-scale gold mined in the country forms the bedrock of the government’s long-term industrial roadmap. GoldBod has formally set a hard deadline to end the practice of shipping raw gold overseas altogether.
“GoldBod is targeting zero raw gold exports by 2030 as local refining gathers pace,” Gyamfi stated. “Our objective is to ensure that no single ounce of unrefined gold leaves the shores of Ghana by the end of this decade.”
To sustain this momentum, Gyamfi indicated that state interventions will soon address high operating overheads faced by domestic processors, with strategic tax relief measures under consideration to cement Ghana’s position as West Africa’s primary refining hub.
