Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD), Sammy Gyamfi, has called for deliberate government policies to increase Ghanaian ownership and participation across the country’s mining value chain.
According to him, Ghana cannot continue to produce gold for generations while Ghanaians remain largely spectators in the ownership, processing and economic benefits associated with the sector.
Speaking at the National Mining Dialogue in Accra, Mr. Gyamfi said the country’s mining reforms must go beyond increasing gold production to ensuring greater Ghanaian participation in exploration, mine development, mining services, refining and downstream industries.
“We must promote more indigenous ownership of mines. We must support Ghanaian capital to participate meaningfully in exploration, mine development, mining services and value addition,” he said.
He stressed that increased production alone would not be sufficient to transform Ghana’s mineral wealth into sustainable economic development.
“Production without ownership is limited. Production without value addition is leakage. Production without community transformation is a broken social contract,” Mr. Gyamfi stated.
The GOLDBOD CEO observed that despite more than a century of commercial gold mining in Ghana, the country had not achieved sufficient levels of local ownership, industrial development and economic transformation in several mining communities.
He noted that the large-scale mining sector had historically been dominated by foreign interests, resulting in significant portions of the value generated from Ghana’s mineral resources leaving the country.
According to him, this leakage occurs through ownership structures, financing arrangements, imported inputs, offshore services, limited beneficiation and weak linkages with local industries.
Mr. Gyamfi cited Obuasi as an example of why mineral extraction alone does not automatically translate into broad-based development.
He argued that deliberate policies focused on ownership, infrastructure, reinvestment and stronger industrial linkages were needed to ensure that mining communities and the wider Ghanaian economy benefited substantially from the country’s mineral resources.
“If we want a new story, we must own more, refine more, process more, fabricate more and retain more,” he stressed.
‘Involve, Protect, Expand’
Mr. Gyamfi also proposed an “Involve, Protect, Expand” model aimed at strengthening the relationship between mining companies, host communities and the national economy.
Under the model, he said mining communities should no longer be treated merely as land donors but as “development partners and economic shareholders” in the mining industry.
He called for greater opportunities for local businesses to participate in the mining economy through sectors such as catering, transportation, security, maintenance, environmental monitoring and reclamation.
The GOLDBOD CEO further advocated stronger environmental protection measures, the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining, tougher enforcement against illegal mining and greater investment in local gold refining and jewellery manufacturing.
He said expanding these areas would help create jobs, strengthen local businesses and ensure that more of the wealth generated from Ghana’s gold remained within the country.
Mr. Gyamfi disclosed that GOLDBOD was already pursuing measures aimed at increasing Ghanaian participation in the gold industry and retaining a greater share of the value generated from the country’s mineral resources.
He maintained that Ghana’s long-term objective should not only be to produce gold but to build an integrated mining industry in which Ghanaians have meaningful ownership, businesses benefit from the value chain and mining communities experience lasting economic transformation.
