Ghana exports refined gold above what is needed for the Jewelry Industry
Mon Mar 10 2025
‘Sitting by the river and washing hands with saliva instead of using the water flowing from the river to do so’. This is an African proverb as in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe that means one or a Country in a position of abundance of resources or access to great resources, Sources of wealth, opportunities and not enjoying the available resources.
One may therefore ask what Ghana’s problems are? If we agree that efficient economy growth or output should be determined by the ability of labour to use IT technology and Capital among others assets, judiciously, reasonably, fairly, effectively, transparently, accountably, then we can deduce that Ghana’s problems are due a problem with Labour. The problems are the corrupt, ignorant, irresponsible and lazy labour, who may be cocooned by his or religious beliefs and makes the past as his or her permanent address. Hence, not ready to reset the mindset to innovate his or her situation.
For instance, after celebration of Valentine Day, you would hear some Ghanaian traders speak of the sales of Chocolate during this year’s Valentine Day was not as good as the sales of the previous year. This situation tells that some Ghanaians are failing or refusing to grow with time to understand that no condition is permanent. Thus the affected persons with unprogressive attitude, need a reset mindset so as to find ways to add value or upgrade or innovate things within the changing environment. Thus the trader as usual is with his or her old mentality of famah Nyame in twi meaning that give or leave to God mentality thus failing to adopt new marketing strategies like good packaging, good branding, campaign management, customer care etc.
This is the problem in Ghana. So, it is high time unprogressive attitudes or the poor narratives are changed through effective leadership, since leadership is cause and everything else is effect. So, it is hoped that the second coming of His Excellency President JD Mahama (HEIDM) as granted by God in the 2024 Presidential Election after the 2016 humiliation in the National Election should bring great positive change.
Yes, POSITIVE CHANGE IS POSSIBLE with Mr JD Mahama, since after 8 years of contemplation, he should be well armed with rich wisdom and fortified with intestinal fortitude for him to work in a manner that will rescue Ghana from the doldrums and navigate Ghana towards the Promised Land.
Thus Ghanaians need to appreciate the provision at Ecclesiastics 3:1 in the Holy Book, that ‘To everything there is a time, a time for every purpose under the heaven’, hence, it is Time for New Citizens of Ghana to demo Oneness by striving for effective Unity in diversity and support a nominee of God, this time His Excellency JD Mahama, the winner of the Quadrennial Presidential election in Ghana among others with constructive criticism and prayers.
Thus as proclaimed by President Dr Nkrumah ‘Africa needs a new type of Citizen, dedicated, modest, selfless, honest, and informed man. A man submerges in self in services to the Nation and Mankind. A man who abhors greed and detest vanity. A new type of Man whose humility is his strength and whose integrity is his greatness’. Ghana at Crossroads thus need man of the moment.
Thus Ghana’s needs a Man who would prioritize the collective good over personal gain. It is therefore envisaged that His Excellency JD Mahama is the new citizen (‘a Born Again’) of Ghana, since as a well-established Statesman, seasoned in the ways of life of Ghana that is seasoned in the Politics of Ghana by the positions held as Assemblyman, Hon MP, Deputy Minister, substantive Minister, Vice President, Acting President, President and in the history of Ghana he is the first ‘Returned’ President (Ababio), so good things should be expected with his return to the Presidency.
Thus, his Excellency Mr JD Mahama, as Citizen Number One for the next four years, may be the new type of citizen as envisaged by President Nkrumah, so we need to give him our maximum support including telling the new President about his past regime’s misdeeds, thus the nation’s past or history to help shape our future. So among others, constructive criticisms should be the hallmark of a new citizens of Ghana.
So, as part of the national economic dialogue for very good points to help in the resetting of Ghana Agenda as well as upgrading of Ghana as at when and where necessary, the 1992 Constitution’s philosophy of Probity, Transparency and Accountability must be the guiding principle for the new citizens of Ghana at all times.
Consequently, it is high time that some facts about gold production in Ghana for the growth of the National Economy are communicated to Ghanaians. This may help to develop new citizens by patronizing/consuming and campaigning for made in Ghana goods and thus stimulate further value additions to these resources to enhance the needed employment. .
Gold is reported to contribute about 30 percent of the GDP of Ghana. It is important to set the record straight that in Ghana, the gold supply for local Jewelry Makers or crafters etc is to be met by Precious Minerals Marketing Company from the Gold bought from the Small Scale Sector and aside the effect of the decline of the Cedis which is affecting the businesses of Jewelry makers, no fear of short supply of gold has been reported may due to poor demand market for Jewelries made in Ghana.
Gold from the Small Scale Mining Sector by a section of Minerals and Mining Amendment Act 2015(Act 900) is to be bought and exported by Private Bullion Exporting Companies with foreigners’ participation against the Small Scale Mining Law which restricted Small Scale Mining to only Ghanaians. The gold from the Small Scale Sector is refined not below 92 percent or 22 karat the best purity for production of quality Jewelries.
The Large Scale Mining Companies export refined Gold between around 95 percent to reputable Gold Refinery, accredited to the London Bullion Market Association. Ghana has no a reputable Gold Refinery Company, that is one with certification from the London Bullion Marketing Association. Ghana as stated exports refined gold and not raw gold ore thus without value addition like what happens with Bauxite, Manganese etc in the Mining Industry.
So, the call by some compatriots for Ghana to stop exporting raw gold is due to ignorance about the global state of affairs with regards to gold mining, gold processing and gold smelting or simply production of gold and gold sales. Thus we need to let our beloved President to appreciate that Ghana needs both Resetting and Upgrading. That is the resetting of Ghana as Country /resetting the mindsets of some Ghanaians, as well as upgrading of Ghana as where and when necessary, are very important among others to ensure the Ghanaian patronizes made in Ghana’s goods as well as halt the tendency of living in the past by always comparing the past and current situation like what some traders have been saying that the previous year’s Valentine Day’s sale of Chocolate was better than that of the stale of the current or this year’s Valentine Day. This should situation is unprogressive, due to a failure to understand no condition is permanent, so man must adjust and work harder to improve on his or her situation, especially look for answers to ensure good sales or a better Ghana.
It is therefore very shocking that a wrong notion is normally held by most Ghanaians including the Intelligentsia Community that Ghana exports raw gold ore, thus without value addition as was raised in the recent National Economic Dialogue by a reputable economist. This display of gross ignorance was also exhibited by a participant on Joy News TV especially News file for 07 March 2025 that because Ghana exports raw gold ore, the situation made some Ghanaians to go to Dubai to buy jewelries etc. The gold refined in Ghana is the best for Jewelries as explained below This situation is rather may be due to the Ghanaian mentality o made of Ghana goods are inferior, otherwise Mental slavery following the crowd or making choices based on own desire or value especially with the notion that made in Ghana goods are inferior.
So it is reiterated that Ghana exports refined Gold bars which are even more than 22 karat or 92 percent of the mass content of a gold bar for Jewelries. Gold bars exported by Ghana were around 95 percent of gold in the mass content of the gold bar. The remaining percentage is the total of the contents of Silver, copper and iron. Gold is sold by troy ounce using the spot price provided by the London Bullion Market Association. The spot price for 10 March 2025 is 2,930.20 US Dollars per Ounce or 94,208.05 US Dollars per kilogram or 94.21 US Dollars per gram. Silver is at 32.77 US Dollars per ounce and copper is at 0.29 US Dollars per ounce.
By International Mining Standard, each mineral in the gold bar’s mass content that is the main gold and the associated impurities of silver, iron, copper etc in the gold bars so determined by the Mining Company through Assay analysis shall be paid for to the Mining Company by the Gold Refinery at the spot price for the day as determined by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). Thus no loss is incurred when a Mining Company sells the gold bar as feed to a Refinery which only refines it to a further purity as stated above as demanded by the jewellery industry or the electronic industries or medical industry etc.
.For further and better clarification in order to drive my point home, let me use what happens in the Iron Industry where regardless of the fact that gold is more expensive metal than iron and is well sought for globally, gold not the main mineral as licensed to produce is regarded as an impurity in the Iron Industry since gold alloys with iron. But the gold as an impurity shall be paid for at the spot price per troy ounce of gold in US Dollars by an Iron Refinery since Iron is the main product of the Iron Mining Company.
Let me reiterate that the Gold is regarded as an impurity in an Iron Industry but an Iron Refinery shall pay for every metal thus the gold as an impurity so determined by Assay using the world price for the day, thus as per the invoices presented by the Iron Mining Company, stating the weight of each metal but the total sale is reckoned as Total Iron Sales in US Dollars for the payment of taxes, royalties etc as required by International Mining Law or Standard. This is situation in Iron Mining Company and it is the same situation in the Gold Industry and I envisaged that for the Lithium Industry, Ghana should ensure that if lithium rock is mined, there should be extraction of lithium in Ghana. Report indicate that Bauxite which contain Aluminum does not include gold but contains iron in the form iron oxide and Silica, So the idea of smelting of Bauxite for Alumina to feed VALCO by the regime of President Nana Addo must be commended and pursued to the logical conclusion.
It must be noted that 22 karat or 92 percent of gold in the mass content of the gold bar is the best percentage of gold content for the Jewelry Industry globally, because it makes the jewelry to be very robust, durable and ability to withstand daily wear and tear than pure gold which is 24 karat or 99.99 percent of gold content and not good for Jewelry. Gold of purity of 99.99 percent is only good for the electronic/electrical, medical industries. Google for difference between 24 karat, 22 Karat and 18 karat of gold.
Pure gold or 24 karat or 99.99 percent of gold content which is sometimes wrongly reported as 100 percent gold is not good for jewellery since it is softer and less durable than 92 percent or 22 karat of gold content. 24 karat or 99.9 percent of gold content is needed by the electrical, electronic, and medical industries for equipment as stated. So, let me add that jewelry of 18 karat or 75 percent of gold content may even be better than jewelry made with 24 karat or 99.99 percent of gold content due to problems of durability and ability to withstand wear and tear with 99.99 percent pure gold jewelry.
As stated, the Precious Minerals Marketing Company is required by law to supply the gold needs for the local Jewellery industry. So, there are a number of Jewellery makers or crafters in Ghana, the reputable ones include the Jewellery outfit of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company, since 1989. The problem of the Jewelry Industry in Ghana is with the free fall of the Cedis which is affecting their business since the purchase is based in dollars using the spot price but pay in Cedis. In case of Demand Market for more Gold for the local Industry, the Precious Minerals Marketing Company should see Bank of Ghana for gold through the Domestic Gold Purchase Program.
It is hoped that this submission would help change the narrative by motivating the purchases, marketing and the usages of made in Ghana goods especially Jewelries as manufactured by Precious Minerals Marketing Company and others. By good demand market for made in Ghana Jewelries etc, it would help motivate the expansion of the local Jewelry Industry and the marketing of same and thus generate additional employment.
Let me also, add that the Large Scale Mining Companies do adopt transparent and accountable measures by the physical checking and monitoring the mining, the processing and smelting or the production of gold by own Security of Ghanaian Nationality and GRA through a stationed or the deployment of a very senior or seasoned Custom Officer for documentation and authentication with signatures by the Custom Officer, Head of Security or his or her Rep, Metallurgical Operation (Metallurgy or Process Plant) Manager etc. The Minerals Commission does checks and monitoring of the mining and the accounting of gold production including submission of monthly report to the Commission.
Furthermore, monitoring is done by both Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Chamber of Mines to ensure reconciliations of the assay results of Mining Companies and the confirmation the Laboratory Assay results by the related Gold Refineries on receipt of the gold. This happens after sales using the result of the Mining Company to effect initial payment and payment of any variance if detected by the Refinery for the correct revenue to the Company.
This is so, since the Large Scale Mining Companies normally enter into sales and Purchase or Marketing Agreement with a Refinery which is accredited by the London Bullion Marketing Association, Ghana has none, Ghana’s Gold Refinery in Accra is not a global accredited Refinery. Hence an external Refinery like Rand Refinery in South Africa, which AngloGold Ashanti Ltd and Goldfields are among the shareholders is the one the Large Scale Mining Companies in Ghana do business with..
So, based on the author‘s rich experiences in the Mining Industry especially with the Bogoso/Prestea Gold Mine as Loss Prevention Operative, it is hereby stated that Gold is normally embedded in a stuff together with other metals or mineral like silver, iron, copper, and may be nickel, platinum etc in alloy form. All these minerals or metals are paid for but recognized or reckoned as the gold sales thus contrary to what some people have been saying, the Mining Companies are paid handsomely for the exported gold.
The issue, Ghana may have with the Large Scale Mining Companies maybe the percentage of the export or sales that is brought to Ghana. That is how much of the export or sales that comes to Ghana. This matter was settled by the Ghana Chamber of Mines which indicated that about 70 percent of the export sales in US Dollars is brought back to Ghana by the Large Scale Mining Companies under the auspices of the Chamber for local operations local logistics, and local Administrative expenses and for local expansions.
A Loss Prevention Operative in the Mining Industry, among others is to ensure the protection, monitoring by sentry and escorting duties all stages starting from the mining of gold ore from the Concession, hauling of gold ore to the Gold Plant to the Crusher for crushing any rocky material, milling at the Ball Mill, then for gravity separation and or leaching tanks for say cyanide leaching by the Process Plant. Together with the above mentioned officers thus including the Custom Officer, he will ensure incident free during the final production of the bars of gold in the Gold Room, the proper accounting, securing of the bullion. Lastly, with the support of the Ghana Police armed escort team, he will ensure the incident free shipment of the bullion to Kotoka International Airport for exportation to the nominated external Refinery.
You may wish for info on the processing of gold. This is either mechanically if gold ore is of alluvial type or placer gold for manual processing method through gold panning by Small Scale Miners or use of a shaking table machine or trommels or Knelson Concentrator or elution circuit etc by Mining Companies or combination of this units. Otherwise by Chemical process by the Small Scale Miners through amalgamation to form mercury-gold amalgam and heating the gold amalgam to evaporate the mercury to release the gold.
For the Chemical process of extraction of gold, the Large Scale Mining Companies do not use mercury. They normally use the process of aqueous chlorination or Cyanidation or Oxidization including Bio-oxidation (Biological process by bacteria) in a Biox Process Plant by Mining Companies. After this process the gold with impurities go by an auto system by a conveyor belt to the Gold Room for Smelting to get gold bars.
The accounting of gold is done by the Mining Companies together with a Custom Officer from GRA to physically monitor the weighing/Assaying, documentations, boxing, sealing with both seals of GRA and that of the Company, and securing in strong safes in the Gold Room for shipment the next day. All activities are authenticated with signatures and date by the Custom Officer, the Head of Security and the Process Manager.
It is the Custom Officer who will take the details of the bullion or bars of gold from the Gold Room to the Finance and Commercial Manager for him to prepare the commercial details using the open market or spot price of an ounce of gold, silver, and copper as provided by the London Bullion Marketing Association for the day. Laboratory Samples of each bar and their weights are normally taken before the weighing and boxing and the details of the samples are properly documented in Laboratory Book and the details are authenticated with signatures and date by the Lab Manager, Head of Security and the Custom Officer and they are kept in a strong safe after the assaying until reconciliation is completed with the affected Refinery. They are added to the next smelting when the reconciliation by both parties is completed.
Lastly, together with the Custom Officer, the Loss Prevention Officer shall confirm the commercial details as made by the Commercial Manager and will ensure incident free shipment of the boxed and well-sealed gold bars or bullion by helicopter or road to Kotoka International Airport Accra for the final export. These info thus confirm that only gold bars are exported and not gold ore is the exported material.
Let me add that the smelting procedures with the exception of the use of mercury and rudimentary tools at the Site of the global interpretation of Small Scale Mining as Galamasey or Indigenous mining to obtain gold bars or blade of gold is almost the same like what happens in the Large Scale Mining Sector.
The differences are the means of mining, the means of haulage of the gold for processing with haulage trucks by large Scale Mining Companies as against hauling of the gold ore or rock in head pans and are conveyed by women to a rock breaking points for crushing or breaking with application of hammers or to a grinding mill for milling. The smelting by Artisanal and Small Scale Miners is by amalgamation as stated by the addition of mercury to form an amalgam, which is then heated to evaporate the mercury into the atmosphere or environment to leave gold deposits.
So smelting of Gold is done by Gold Mining Companies or Small Scale Miners to get the gold content in a gold bar by separating the various minerals acknowledging the content by percentage of gold with the various metals like silver, iron, copper etc in alloy in the mass content of the gold bar or gold blade. Gold alloys with silver etc. so the smelting as stated is to work to obtain gold bars between 92% to 95 % of gold. The differences in the percentages are the contents in percentages of silver, copper, or iron etc as impurities which alloyed with gold.
Thus the Smelting is to help the production at most 95% ± (plus) extraction of gold by either mechanically or by Chemical process. Refining of Gold bars from Gold Mining Companies or from Small Scale Miners on the other hand is done by a Refinery Company to reduce the level of the other metals like silver or copper as impurities in the gold bar to the barest minimum level. So there is nothing like 100 percent Gold anywhere in the World. The purest you can get is 99.99 percent normally termed as the 4 Nines gold.
For more financial gains from gold or the Minerals, Ghana should opt for a law that would facilitate the purchase of at least 30 percent Shares of stocks of the Mining Companies as floated in both the local and International Stock Markets. Furthermore, Ghanaians with critical mindset should work hard to reduce the matters of the corrupt risks, likewise the alleged matters on the governance etc associated with the botched Agyapa Gold Royalty.
The best way is for enlightened New Citizens to come out with the benefits of the Gold Royalty to the for all new citizens since they are the collective owners of the minerals as at Clause 6 of Article 257 of the 1992 Constitution, and the benefits to the Nation. It is very important that Ghana should allow the Citizen to effectively participate in the Gold Royalty deal as part of transparent and open decision procedure before effecting the investment in the London Stock Exchange Market, This should be by a reasonable value say 49 percent of the future gold royalties.
It is envisaged that Ghana stands to make massive gains in terms of revenue in both local and foreign currencies and as well use this vehicle to share part of the gains with the citizens the owners of the minerals. This is the situation with the Large Scale Mining Companies with the investment of their untapped gold reserves or their future gold on the field or gold Concession in the Stock Market.
This idea of the investment of the Gold Royalties is very good and Ghanaians need proper education on this investment portfolio. So our Intelligentsias community should see how best Ghana can gains more from her resources including the vehicle of investment with the gold Royalties in the Stock Market. Hence there is the need for Ghanaians to think big and think positive and call for proper risk assessments to be done by honest risk management experts to reduce the likely associated risks to the barest minimum level.
Gold globally is priced at per troy ounce and in USA Dollars. The price of gold is determined in the World Market by demand and supply and to some extent the state of USA Dollars since there is inverse relationship between the price of gold and dollar rate. Thus when the dollar strengthens, gold prices often fall or decline and vice versa so a fall in the dollar rate leads to a high demand for gold as safe haven. It must be noted that it terms of market demand, the determine is highest in India by women of India who adore jewelries as well used it as safe haven for their funds.
Mining Companies normally sell their gold to reputable International gold Refinery since Mining Companies are required by International Standards to sell Encumbrance free gold and it must certified certified by a Refinery firm with accreditation of /certification by the London Bullion Market Association.
So what the best Gold Mining Companies globally hence including those in Ghana, do is to smelt gold ore to a reasonable level that will facility accurate determination of the various minerals in a gold bar through assaying in a local Laboratory and take note of the percentage of each metal in the mass content of each gold bar thus the main gold, and the associated impurities like silver, copper, iron etc for correct payment by a Gold Refinery which is accredited to LBMA.
A Refinery on receipt of the gold bars, it will first carry out Assaying to confirm or otherwise the results of the Assaying done by the Mining Company say in Ghana after which reconciliation is done between the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Chamber of Mines on behalf of the affected Member Mining Company on receipt of the Assay results from the Refinery and the results from the Mining Company used to determine the minerals content for the computation of the sales. t Bank of Ghana and the Chamber of Mines are to ensure fair and correct payment. if discrepancies exist with the two assay results conducted differently or Independently by the Mining Company and the Refinery.
The refinery then works to refine the gold by reducing the level of the impurities. This is done, firstly by heating the gold to at very high temperature to a molten state and then Chlorine gas is passed through for the Chloride process or Chlorination to produce gold chloride silver chloride, Zinc chloride or copper chloride and iron chloride in order to get 99.99 percent of gold. The gold is then casted into flat plates of Anodes for further purification by Electrolysis by Electrolytic plating the gold anodes placed in a solution of Sodium Cyanide or a mixture Hydrochloride and Nitric Acid.
The gold Anodes in the solution are then placed opposite a Cathode of pure gold and then specific electric potential is applied across the Cathode and Anodes, the Anodes gold then passes into the Solution of Gold Cyanide if Sodium Cyanide is used or Gold chloride if Hydrochloric acid is used respectively and pure gold is plated to the starter cathode leaving the impurities in the electrolytic cell. This electrolysis process for pure gold can be done even in the lab of SHS or by Goldsmith. So refinery of gold by Ghana is not a problem, the problem is the with need for accreditation before the gold can be sold and a Refinery takes care of that.
Source: https://www.modernghana.com/