The Ghana Chamber of Mines has said that it expects gold production in 2024 to exceed 4.5 million ounces.
According to the Chamber, despite the nation’s economic challenges, the mining sector saw some expansion in 2023.
Its President Joshua Mortoti said the small-scale mining companies are expected to produce between 1.1 million and 1.3 million ounces of gold in 2024, whilst the large-scale gold mining firms would produce 3.4 million ounces.
“The latter mines [Obuasi, Tarkwa] are approaching their end of life span. With a projected output range of 1.1 million ounces to 1.3 million ounces in 2024 from the small-scale sector, the national gold output is expected to exceed 4.5 million ounces in 2024. Including manganese production, the planned output for 2024 is 5 million tonnes,” he said.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, said the government and the Chamber had achieved significant successes together in the previous year and that 2024 offers a chance to intensify and improve cooperative efforts meant to establish the conditions required for the efficient and profitable operations of the large-scale mining firms.
“What I can assure you is that the government is fully committed to providing adequate security for your concessions. Because it is when your concessions are safe that you can work in peace to support the government. So, whatever we need to do to ensure that your concessions are safe, we will do it”, he stated.
“And in this regard, I will continue to count on the leadership of the Chamber. If there are specific or special cases, we need to deal with let us know and we will take the necessary steps to deal with them”, he added.
According to the third-quarter 2023 data, production attributable to the Ghana Chamber of Mines member businesses was 2.14 million ounces, which is marginally less than the 2.18 million ounces recorded in 2022 for the same period.
In the meantime, production from small-scale miners increased from 0.66 million ounces in 2022 to 1.12 million ounces in 2023, a 70.6% rise.