Amid calls for clarity on the structure, purposes and activities of the Gold Board (referred to simply as Goldbod), being established by the President John Dramani Mahama administration, legislative proposals have now been drawn up for consideration by Parliament who will be required to turn them into law. However it is still unclear what the timelines for this process are since the bill has not yet been formally presented to Parliament.
With gold prices having passed US3,000 per ounce last week for the first time, Ghana is looking up to gold industry revenues to make up for the ongoing slump in cocoa revenues and stagnant oil revenues. Indeed, the ongoing surge on gold prices was the primary driver of Ghana’s record high trade surplus of over US$4 billion achieved in 2024.
The draft Act itself is: “To establish the Ghana Gold Board , regulate the purchase, trading and export of gold, promote value addition for the country’s gold resources and provide for related matters”
The Board will be a corporate body operating as a commercial venture, with the objectives to regulate, oversee, monitor and undertake the purchase, trading, assay, refining, export and other related activities, concerning gold and other precious minerals of Ghana.
To this end the Board will, among other things : promote the marketing of the country’s gold resources; institute policies and programmes to enhance local gold production and maximize the national benefit across the entire value chain of the gold resources of Ghana; provide support to small scale miners and mining communities; support environmentally sustainable and responsible mining practices; serve as the national authority with the exclusive power to grade, assay, and value gold produced or brought into Ghana and ensure the most favourable arrangement for their commercialization; serve as the national authority with the exclusive power to purchase, sell and export gold from the mining and marketing industry; set standards on the quality purity and weight of gold sold or exported from Ghana ; determine the pricing of gold on the local market; institute policies to promote vale addition to Ghana’s gold resources; combat gold smuggling; formalize the small scale mining industry; promote supply chain sustainability from environmental, legal and ethical perspectives; and grant operating licenses and maintain a register licensed operators.
Goldbod’s governing body will be a Board of Directors comprising a Chairperson and a CEO, both nominated by the President; one representative each from large scale mining firms, small scale miners and gold service providers; one representative each from the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Bank of Ghana and the Ministry of Finance; and three other persons with specialized knowledge and experience in matters relevant to the to the functions of the Board. Directors will hold office for a maximum of two four year terms.
The Ghana Goldbod will be funded by monies approved by Parliament ( the 2025 budget proposes US$279 million for starts) ; fees payable by gold service providers and licensees; revenues accruable to the Board from its activities; administrative penalties; loans and investments; donations and grants; and any other monies as approved by the Finance Minister.
Central to Goldbod’s activities will be the operation of a Goldbod Fund, which primarily will provide concessional funding for licensed small scale miners, provide them with the right environmentally friendly equipment, train them, facilitate precious minerals processing and refining, and support alternative livelihood programmes for mining communities .
The Fund will be financed from Goldbod’s own resources as approved by its Board of Directors, donations and grants, levies imposed by Parliament on gold mining products and services, and any monies as approved by Parliament.
