Adnan Adams Mohammed
The government has announced new policy directives on how it intends to increase gold reserves to be used as means of trade with major importers of fuel products.
This is part of efforts to operationalize the use of gold to purchase oil products and other imports.
The rate of demand for foreign exchange by oil and other importers in the face of dwindling foreign exchange reserves has resulted in the depreciation of the cedi and increases in the cost of living with higher prices for fuel, transportation, utilities, etc. To address this challenge, Government is negotiating a new policy regime where our gold (rather than our US dollar reserves) will be used to buy oil products. The barter of sustainably mined gold for oil is one of the most important economic policy changes in Ghana since independence.
In line of the above the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor has issued the following directives:
1. Effective 1st January, 2023, all large scale mining companies (as agreed with the Bank of Ghana) shall sell twenty percent (20%) of all refined gold at their refineries to the Bank of Ghana (in Ghana Cedis) before the export of the gold. The Bank of Ghana and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) will coordinate with the large scale mining companies to ensure compliance with this directive.
2. Effective 1st January, 2023, all Community Mining Schemes (CMS) shall sell their gold outputs to Government through PMMC. All mining licences for CMS shall include a clause mandating licensees to sell their gold output to Government.
3. Effective 1st January, 2023, all Licensed Small Scale Gold Miners shall sell their gold to Government through PMMC. All small scale gold mining licences shall include a clause mandating licensees to sell their gold to Government.
4. The gold to be purchased by the Bank of Ghana and the PMMC will be in cedis at spot price with no discounts.
These directives would also help local gold refineries obtain gold supplies from PMMC to support their operations as they work toward obtaining the required London Bullion Market (LBMA) certification.
