Sammy Gyamfi: GoldBod’s Refining Deal Targets “Value Retention” From the Small-Scale Miner to the National Treasury

The Ghana Gold Board has signed an agreement with the Royal Ghana Gold refinery to refine its gold before export, with the deal set to help Ghana capture more value internally instead of losing it through purity challenges and other avoidable gaps in the gold supply chain. The move is being presented as a practical response to a long-standing economic pattern where Ghana produces gold but too often exports it in raw form, limiting how much the country benefits from downstream processing.
At the ceremony, the Bank of Ghana Governor, Johnson Asiamah, linked the refinery services agenda to a macroeconomic objective—improving Ghana’s balance of payments. He argued that when Ghana undertakes value addition of its natural resources, it does not only create jobs and raise revenue; it also reduces the outflow of value that would otherwise happen when raw commodities are exported and the corresponding benefits accrue elsewhere. He stressed that the value-addition imperative extends beyond gold. According to him, oil and cocoa are also “long overdue” for similar local processing, reinforcing the idea that Ghana’s national development should not be dependent on exporting unprocessed resources.
The Governor’s argument set the tone for the message coming from GoldBod. CEO Sammy Gyamfi used the signing to underline that local refining is not just an investment headline or an industrial policy in principle—it is a mechanism for value retention that affects how much value stays in Ghana at the level of both quality and economics. He framed the refinery services partnership as aligned with the President’s vision to end the export of raw minerals by 2030, saying GoldBod has been mandated to lead the steps that make that shift real. For Gyamfi, the difference between refining at home and refining abroad can be measured in outcomes, particularly where purity loss is concerned, because purity determines the quality classification of the final product and, ultimately, its market value.
Gyamfi specifically assured that local refinery services will curb purity losses that may occur when gold is processed outside Ghana. He explained that purity is not merely a technical parameter; it is economic substance. When gold is refined in ways that do not adequately protect quality throughout the process, the final product may not command the full value it otherwise should. In his view, preventing purity losses is therefore inseparable from the broader strategy of capturing the real value of Ghana’s mineral resources. This is why GoldBod is pushing for arrangements that place refining capacity within the country and integrate it into the national gold value chain rather than leaving it to external systems.
The agreement itself includes a clear operational benchmark. GoldBod indicated that Royal Ghana Gold Refinery is expected to refine at least one metric tonne of gold weekly, subject to the refinery’s capacity and readiness to operate at the required scale. Gyamfi also emphasized that the weekly target matters because it supports consistency. Rather than treating local refining as an occasional service, the objective is to make it a reliable, repeatable process that can steadily absorb locally sourced gold and convert it into higher-value refined products within Ghana.
Significantly, Gyamfi connected the partnership to the progress made since GoldBod began preparing the ground for local refining in early 2025. He said that from 7 January 2025, GoldBod had worked on building the enabling framework through operating measures, systems, and partnerships to support value retention through in-country refining. He presented the current agreement as one step in a pipeline approach—where existing private refineries are engaged first, then the overall ecosystem is expanded progressively to match Ghana’s production levels and policy goals.
In this sense, the agreement is also framed as an instrument of confidence-building for investors. Gyamfi stated that the intention is to ensure private participation without discrimination, and to create conditions where refineries can operate with greater assurance that they are serving a national agenda. He further referenced that, while the refining ecosystem is still in motion and operational benchmarks may evolve, Ghana is building capacity in stages rather than waiting for a single, instant solution. He cited a previous agreement with Gold Coast Refinery signed in February this year as part of this wider direction toward enabling weekly refining.
Royal Ghana Gold Refinery CEO Eric Santeng added another dimension to the agreement by stating that the refinery will align with the government’s 24-hour economy programme. According to Santeng, enabling gold refining on a sustained schedule can support stable production, strengthen market activity, and create more jobs—not only within the refinery itself but across the broader economic chain connected to the refining and mining ecosystem. This emphasis on operational continuity complements Gyamfi’s focus on weekly refining capacity, since stable schedules are necessary for refining services to become a dependable part of the national value-addition drive.
Notably, Santeng’s participation also comes after Gyamfi’s recent tour of the Royal Ghana Gold Refinery barely a month earlier. The visit was described as part of GoldBod’s ongoing processes toward finalizing the agreement and ensuring that the partnership is grounded in technical readiness and operational capability. That detail reinforces that GoldBod’s strategy is not limited to signing contracts; it involves assessing capacity and aligning refinery operations with the country’s value-addition needs.
Overall, the signing is being framed as more than a commercial milestone. It is positioned as a national turning point in the way Ghana processes its mineral wealth. With GoldBod targeting purity preservation, weekly refining capacity of at least one metric tonne, and refinery operations aligned to an extended economy model, the partnership is expected to translate policy into measurable outcomes—jobs, revenue, reduced value leakage, and stronger national control over quality. In the end, the message is that Ghana’s gold wealth should not only be extracted; it should be refined and secured within Ghana so that more value stays in Ghana—from the small-scale miner and local producer to the national treasury.