- Incentives Could Turn Ghana’s Gold Reserves Push into West African Refining Hub — Chamber of Mines
Ghana’s drive to use domestic gold production to strengthen foreign-exchange reserves could become the foundation for a much larger industrial transformation if government pairs the policy with incentives capable of making the country a competitive regional centre for gold refining, the Ghana Chamber of Mines has said.
The Chamber has backed the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Programme, or GANRAP, under which large-scale mining companies are expected to sell 30.00% of their gold production for local processing and eventual transfer to the Bank of Ghana’s reserves.
But Ing. Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, argues that the policy should ultimately achieve more than building bullion stocks for the central bank.
“We need to look at GANRAP beyond even 2028,” Ing. Dr. Ashigbey said.
His intervention raises a more consequential question about Ghana’s gold economy: whether one of Africa’s leading producers can use the current reserve-building programme to capture more of the value that traditionally leaves the country between extraction, refining and international bullion trading.
GANRAP’s immediate objective is macroeconomic. Government wants to increase Ghana’s international reserves to the equivalent of 15 months of import cover by the end of 2028, creating a significantly larger buffer against foreign-exchange shortages, commodity shocks and disruptions in global capital markets.
Under the new arrangement, gold acquired from large-scale producers is expected to be processed and refined locally before entering Ghana’s reserve portfolio.
That creates an unusual connection between monetary policy and industrial policy.
Instead of gold simply leaving mines as an export commodity or moving directly into central-bank reserves, Ghana has an opportunity to build commercial activity around the stages between production and final bullion ownership.
The country’s challenge is that extracting gold does not automatically mean capturing the highest-value parts of the industry.
Refining, assaying, certification, secure logistics, bullion trading and commodity finance all generate economic value. Much of that activity associated with African gold has historically taken place outside producing countries.
A competitive domestic refining industry could begin to change that structure.
Government has already linked its local processing strategy to an ambition to secure London Bullion Market Association accreditation for at least one Ghanaian refinery by 2030.
Such international recognition could be important because refinery capacity alone does not guarantee that bullion will be accepted seamlessly by major international financial and trading institutions.
Accreditation, quality assurance, traceability and governance are fundamental to becoming a credible participant in the global gold market. The Chamber’s argument is therefore that Ghana must make domestic refining commercially attractive rather than relying only on regulation to force gold through local facilities.
Ing. Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey has pointed to jurisdictions including Tanzania, India and South Africa, where governments have used policy interventions to promote mineral beneficiation.
For Ghana, potential incentives could include appropriate tax treatment for refinery investment, competitive energy arrangements, streamlined customs procedures, access to financing and predictable regulation.
But those incentives would need careful design. A refinery receiving substantial fiscal concessions while remaining uncompetitive internationally would merely shift costs to taxpayers. The objective should be to use temporary or targeted incentives to create an industry capable eventually of competing without permanent protection.
Scale will be critical. Ghana’s own gold production provides a substantial potential feedstock, but the larger opportunity would be to process gold from across West Africa.
Neighbouring economies are themselves significant gold producers. If Ghana can develop internationally accredited facilities with competitive costs, reliable security and efficient logistics, it could potentially position itself as a regional refining gateway.
That would change the economics of the policy considerably. Instead of GANRAP remaining primarily a reserve-accumulation mechanism, the infrastructure developed around it could support export services, metallurgy, assaying, security, logistics, compliance, jewellery manufacturing and commodity finance.
The programme could therefore create jobs and foreign-exchange earnings even after Ghana reaches its reserve target.
That is why the Chamber’s call to think beyond 2028 matters. If domestic refining depends entirely on compulsory gold purchases associated with GANRAP, the industry could weaken once the programme’s immediate reserve objective is achieved.
A stronger model would use the current policy to establish sufficient scale, standards and commercial expertise for refineries to operate competitively beyond the reserve programme.
Government and the mining industry have already formalised the 30% arrangement through a memorandum of understanding involving the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Bank of Ghana, GoldBod and the Ghana Chamber of Mines.
Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said the agreement followed extensive negotiations between the parties.
“Today’s signing of the memorandum of understanding signifies that we have successfully come to a mutual understanding that that policy will be implemented effective the date of signing,” he said.
The commercial details will nevertheless be crucial. Large-scale mining companies require foreign currency for equipment, debt servicing, capital expenditure and shareholder obligations. A compulsory domestic purchase arrangement must therefore provide predictable pricing and settlement conditions if it is not to undermine investment incentives.
Likewise, Ghana must ensure that reserve accumulation does not come at the expense of liquidity required elsewhere in the economy.
The Chamber’s proposition ultimately shifts the debate from how much gold Ghana owns to how much economic value Ghana retains.
Building reserves can improve confidence in the cedi and give the country greater protection against external shocks. Those benefits are significant, but essentially defensive.
Building an internationally competitive gold-refining industry would be different.
It could create a productive asset capable of generating value long after individual bars of gold have been transferred into central-bank reserves.
That is the larger opportunity embedded in GANRAP. Ghana already has the mineral resource. It is now attempting to secure a larger share of production for national reserves.
The next step is determining whether that same policy can help build the infrastructure, expertise and international credibility required to make Ghana a place where West African gold is not merely mined but refined, certified, financed and traded.
If that happens, GANRAP could ultimately leave Ghana with something more durable than a bigger reserve buffer: a new gold industry built around the value created after extraction.
