- Ghana Must ‘Own More, Refine More, Retain More’ from Its Gold — GoldBod CEO
Ghana must fundamentally reset the relationship between mining companies, the state and resource-rich communities if more than a century of gold extraction is to translate into broad-based development, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board has said.
Speaking at the National Mining Dialogue in Accra on August 18, the GoldBod CEO argued that the industry’s “social licence to operate” can no longer rest mainly on regulatory approvals and mineral rights, but must increasingly be judged by local ownership, jobs, environmental protection and visible economic improvements in host communities.
“The theme before us, ‘Rethinking the Social Licence to Operate,’ is not just a sweet conference slogan. It is a political, economic and moral demand,” he said. “Natural resources are God’s gift to the communities that host them and a blessing to the State.
If those resources do not transform the communities from which they are taken, then we have not fully converted blessing into development.”
The intervention goes to the heart of one of Ghana’s longest-running mining contradictions. The country remains one of Africa’s leading gold producers and has benefited substantially from stronger bullion prices and rising production, yet many mining districts continue to face poor roads, limited access to potable water, youth unemployment, environmental degradation and weak local economies.
“We cannot continue to mine gold from the soil of our communities while poverty, lack of access to potable water, poor roads, youth unemployment and weak local economies remain the daily reality of too many mining communities in our country,” the GoldBod CEO said. He warned that public confidence in mining will become increasingly difficult to sustain where communities see the value leaving their areas faster than development arrives.
The issue is particularly sensitive among young people. “A social license cannot survive where the youth believe mining has no place for them except as casual laborers and bystanders, while others see them as troublesome agitators,” he said, calling for mining to create clearer pathways into skills, enterprise development, services and ownership.
That would require a shift away from a model focused primarily on extracting ore and subsequently distributing taxes, royalties and discretionary corporate social responsibility. GoldBod’s proposed approach instead treats mining concessions as potential anchors for local economic ecosystems capable of supporting businesses and infrastructure long after individual deposits are depleted.
“Mining communities must no longer be treated as land donors. They are custodians of the resource hence must be treated as development partners and economic shareholders,” the CEO said. The argument places ownership and participation alongside taxation as central measures of whether Ghana is extracting sufficient value from its mineral resources.
The ownership deficit is particularly significant in the large-scale sector. Despite more than a century of commercial gold production, Ghanaian participation in equity, financing and some of the higher-value segments of exploration, production and downstream activity remains relatively limited.
“The large-scale mining sector has been largely foreign-led, and too much of the value has leaked out of the country through ownership structures, financing arrangements, imported inputs, offshore services, limited beneficiation and weak local industrial linkages,” he said.
He contrasted the development trajectories of Obuasi and Johannesburg to make the broader point that mineral endowment alone does not guarantee transformation. “Mines do not build nations by accident. Nations build value through deliberate ownership, strategic partnerships, infrastructure, linkages, reinvestment and disciplined policy management.”
The stakes have become even larger as gold assumes greater importance within Ghana’s external sector. Figures presented at the dialogue indicate that Ghana exported about US$32 billion of merchandise in 2025, with gold generating approximately US$20.2 billion, equivalent to 63.13% of total export earnings.
Gold has consequently become central to foreign-exchange generation, reserve accumulation and broader macroeconomic stabilisation. GoldBod’s argument, however, is that stronger national external balances must increasingly be accompanied by stronger local economies in the communities where the mineral is extracted.
The changing structure of production reinforces that debate. Ghana produced about 5.94 million ounces of gold in 2025, with artisanal and small-scale mining contributing approximately 3.11 million ounces, or 52.36% of total production.
“For the first time in over a century, artisanal and small-scale miners overtook large-scale producers,” the CEO said. “This proves that when Ghanaians become active value actors, their productivity will power national development.”
GoldBod is proposing what it describes as an “IPE” model Involve, Protect and Expand. Under the first pillar, communities would participate more directly in decisions affecting mining, receive clearer economic commitments from operators and benefit from greater decentralised retention of mineral royalties.
The CEO argued that every new mine should carry identifiable commitments covering jobs, local businesses, services and infrastructure, while corporate social responsibility should move away from largely discretionary projects towards more predictable development obligations.
The second pillar, “Protect”, places environmental stewardship at the centre of mining legitimacy. “Water bodies, forests, farmlands and public health must be treated as non-negotiable national assets. The social licence of mining cannot coexist with poisoned rivers and devastated forest reserves,” he said.
The approach would involve stronger reclamation and reforestation, improved traceability and formalisation of artisanal mining and tougher enforcement against operators responsible for environmental destruction.
“Expand”, the final pillar, calls for greater Ghanaian ownership across exploration, production and mining services alongside expansion of domestic refining, jewellery fabrication and other downstream activities. That agenda reflects a recognition that Ghana’s challenge is increasingly not simply how many ounces it produces, but how much economic value surrounding each ounce remains within the country.
“If we want a new story, we must own more, refine more, process more, fabricate more and retain more,” the GoldBod CEO said.
The credibility of the proposed compact will ultimately depend on implementation. Higher production and stronger export earnings alone will not resolve the persistent tension between mining’s national economic importance and the deprivation visible in some host communities.
The deeper measure of success will be whether extraction creates viable Ghanaian businesses, skilled employment, environmental restoration and durable infrastructure that survive beyond the life of individual mines. “If we get this right, Ghana will not only produce gold,” the CEO said. “Ghana will produce prosperous mining towns, strategic industries around its minerals and deeper community trust.”
