GOLDBOD has exclusive rights over small-scale gold, partial rights over large-scale output

The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD), Sammy Gyamfi, has revealed that the institution has been given significant authority over gold trading in the country, including exclusive rights over gold from artisanal and small-scale mining and limited rights over large-scale production.

He explained GOLDBOD is the only institution in charge of assaying, grading, valuation and export oversight across the gold sector.

“Our mandate applies to all gold. Nobody can assay or export gold without the Gold Board in Ghana. When it comes to the power to purchase and sell, Parliament gave GOLDBOD an exclusive right over all artisanal small-scale mining sector gold, nobody can buy that, nobody can sell that except the Gold Board,” he said on Joy News’ PM Express on Thursday.

Sammy Gyamfi however explained that Board’s has limited authority over gold from large-scale mining, adding that large-scale mining companies can still export their own gold, but the state has what he described as “a pre-emption right” that allows it to buy part of that output first if government chooses to exercise that option.

“When it comes to the purchasing and selling of large-scale gold, we’ve been given partial rights,” he said.

“If the government of Ghana decides to exercise its pre-emption right and we want to buy 20% or 30% of your gold outputs before you export the rest, once we are paying the fair commercial value for it you must sell it to us,” he added.

The GOLDBOD CEO pointed out that Ghana currently has a two-track gold trading system where the government maintains full control over gold from small-scale mining, and a “more limited but still significant authority over the gold from large-scale mining companies.”

This system, he said, is expected to give government stronger oversight over gold trading in the country while still allowing large-scale mining companies to “continue their export operations within a regulated framework.”