The Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, has announced a sweeping overhaul of Ghana’s gold acquisition framework.
The GoldBod’s new strategy is aimed at strengthening foreign exchange reserves, enhancing local value addition, and tightening regulatory oversight across the mining sector.
Addressing Parliament on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, the Minister disclosed that the government will, in the short term, revise the current arrangement under which the Bank of Ghana acquires 20 per cent of large-scale gold output.
To ensure strict compliance by mining companies, the government will establish an Inter-Agency Committee co-chaired by the Ministers for Finance and Lands and Natural Resources, with membership including the Governor of the Bank of Ghana as well as the Chief Executive Officers of the Minerals Commission and the Ghana Gold Board.
Under the new arrangement, the Lands Minister will invoke the state’s pre-emption rights under the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025, and the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006, to purchase a minimum of 20 per cent of large-scale gold output, equivalent to at least 0.57 tonnes per week.
The gold will be acquired strictly in doré form and processed locally to promote value addition. Transactions will be conducted in cedis at the prevailing interbank exchange rate and at a discount to be determined by the parties based on volume.
According to the Minister, the doré purchased under the new acquisition arrangement will be refined by local refineries before being shipped to refineries certified by the London Bullion Market Association for melting, bar casting, and stamping, after which it will be added to Ghana’s physical gold reserves.
He stressed that the gold will only be sold by the central bank, subject to prior approval of the Cabinet and Parliament.
Dr. Forson said the measures are designed to ensure strict enforcement of commitments by large-scale mining firms, promote local value retention, enhance transparency and good governance, and reduce acquisition costs, while supporting local refineries to attain LBMA certification standards.
He noted that the Ghana Gold Board is strategically positioned to enforce the arrangement as it maintains field officers in the gold rooms of all large-scale mining firms and assays samples of gold output prior to export.
He further revealed that the framework has been successfully piloted with nine large-scale mining companies over the past six months.
Source: Kwadwo Baffour Atuahene
