GoldBod reforms generate $10.8 billion in forex from small-scale mining in 2025 – Sammy Gyamfi
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has disclosed that Ghana’s artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector generated $10.8 billion in foreign exchange in 2025.
According to him, the achievement resulted from reforms introduced to formalise gold trading and reduce smuggling, under-declaration and illegal cross-border transactions.
Speaking at the 2026 African Minerals Policy Forum in Accra, Mr Gyamfi revealed that gold exports from the ASM sector increased from 63 tonnes in 2024 to nearly 104 tonnes in 2025.
He explained that the foreign exchange inflows supported the accumulation of national reserves and helped stabilise the cedi, which appreciated by 41 per cent against the US dollar in 2025.
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod had introduced a four-tier licensing system, transparent pricing, digital stock-booking, official receipts and increased state-funded liquidity to improve accountability and bring more gold trading activities into the formal economy.
He added that the Board had deployed a task force and inspectorate nationwide to monitor compliance and gather intelligence on illegal gold trading and smuggling.
On local refining, the GoldBod CEO said the country was making progress towards retaining more value from its gold resources. He disclosed that 18.7 tonnes of gold had been refined locally since August 1, 2026, while 5.4 tonnes out of the 5.7 tonnes of ASM gold purchased in October had undergone local refining.
He further revealed that GoldBod had signed refining agreements with Gold Coast Refinery and Royal Ghana Gold Refinery, which had cumulatively refined 25 tonnes of ASM gold purchased and exported by the Board in 2026.
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod was pursuing a broader policy shift from exporting raw minerals towards achieving zero raw mineral exports by 2030.
