The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has noted that the establishment of a refinery in Ghana is a strategic investment which contributes immensely to the government’s efforts in ensuring value addition of Ghana’s mineral resources.
Currently, Ghana’s gold is exported in raw form to be refined outside Ghana, resulting in lost revenue and missed opportunities for job creation. Between 2018 and 2023, Ghana’s average annual gold production was 3.92 million ounces (122.5 tonnes).
The Vice President said historically, Ghana has exported its gold in raw form, missing out on significant revenue and job creation opportunities, and that the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been determined to make value addition a critical component of our export strategy since 2017 and the launch of the refinery is particularly important as it realises a key part of this vision.
“Originally, this vision was to be actualized through a joint venture between the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) and Rosy Royal Minerals Limited. PMMC granted part of its land for the construction of the refinery and despite delays due to COVID-19, the beautiful edifice you see today, which started in 2018, was completed in 2022.”
He said the Bank of Ghana took over PMMC’s interest in the refinery and PMMC continues to be resourced to discharge its mandate as the National Assayer, providing quality and revenue assurance for the refinery’s products.
He commended the Board, Management and Staff of both the Bank of Ghana and PMMC for their relentless support and cooperation in seeing to the fruition of this historic national project.
“With the ability to locally refine our gold, we will be able to sell the refined gold at its appropriate price, enabling us to retain its economic value within our borders, while creating numerous job opportunities for the youth. In addition, Government’s intention to refine all gold produced in Ghana will further enhance our economic independence and resilience.”
Dr. Bawumia stated at the commissioning of the new gold refinery that, with the BoG’s domestic gold purchase programme(DGPP), which started in 2021 and the refinery, Ghana is positioned as the gold hub of Africa and this marks a new era for Ghana and ushers the country into his vision of building a resilient economy anchored on the country’s mineral resources in a golden age of natural resource governance.
Dr. Bawumia is optimistic that with the right policies and a deliberate approach to Ghana’s natural resources use, the country will be able to overcome the cyclical depreciating trait of its currency.
“Historically, the nature and structure of our largely primary commodity producing and import-dependent economy is such that a largely flexible exchange rate regime in the context of external shocks, fiscal indiscipline and speculative activities will lead to a continuously depreciating exchange rate over time even if we have periods of stability.“ He disclosed
He revealed that, the next NPP government under his presidency will adequately provide the Geological Survey Department and universities with resources annually to investigate and undertake mapping of areas where we have mineral resources.
“A minimum of US$5 million will be invested in this geological investigation of mineralized zones from 2025. With evidence of proven reserves, we will ensure that earmarked concessions in these resource-mapped areas with proven reserves will be 100% Ghanaian-owned for small-scale mining.”
On the Reclamation of degraded land, Dr Bawumia said there must be increased effort towards the reclamation of degraded mining lands and that it would require a carefully planned programme and consistent resource allocation assuring that the next NPP Government will set up a reclamation fund with an annual dedicated budget to implement the land reclamation programme.
“We will use a comprehensive and collaborative approach to ensure strict adherence to our mining laws and regulations to prevent illegal and improper mining practices such as mining near or in river bodies, the use of prohibited chemicals or equipment for mining, environmental degradation.”
The Vice President again said government will adopt a multilevel approach to support and enhance the operations of small-scale mining.
“Among the many approaches, will be the establishment of a Minerals Development Bank to provide financial resources to indigenous Ghanaians in the sector. This will deepen the Ghanian ownership dream and avoid situations whereby Ghanaians acquire mining license and sell to foreigners because they do not have the required capital. We will also set up common user processing factories for the small scale mining sector to enable them scale up how much they realize from processing.”
“Using a phased approach and leveraging on the already established and hugely successful BoG’s Domestic Gold Purchasing Program (DGPP) in the medium term, we will implement an enhanced due diligence scheme and significantly raise gold production standards in the long term.”
He believes the policy will further improve the foreign reserves adequacy of the BoG to ensure adequate foreign exchange is available to meet the international trade needs and reduce external borrowing requirements of the country and improve the BoG’s level of gross international reserves in addition to prudent fiscal and monetary policy which is key to ensuring a stable Ghanaian cedi.
Dr. Bawumia said the current issues of illegal mining pose a big threat to value addition efforts as it has a real potential of tainting the gold dore which will be fed the refinery thereby making it difficult to meet the responsible sourcing requirements, and by extension the ability to operate with international certification reason why the Royal Ghana Gold Refinery must ensure that its entire feedstock is responsibly sourced.
“There is therefore a compelling reason, more than ever to ensure that we nib the menace of galamsey in the bud to ensure responsible mining and safeguard our environment and water bodies.”
“I am very certain in my mind that addressing the galamsey (illegal mining) problem does not just require political will but also well thought through policies that are practical. The next NPP government under my presidency shall adopt practical policies to address the root causes of galamsey and support the small-scale mining sector. I am of the firm conviction that while galamsey is a menace, small-scale mining is not, and therefore the latter must be prioritized.”
He assured that government’s overarching objective for dealing decisively with the galamsey menace and enhancing the small-scale mining sector is to improve lives and livelihoods and protect the environment.
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