The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has revealed that the state monopoly is leveraging its newly instituted centralized gold buying licensing system to geographically profile all artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) production sources across the country.
Initiated two months ago under the mandate of Section 3 of the Gold Board Act, the comprehensive spatial tracking exercise aims to support the formalization of the ASM sector by mapping exact regional supply distributions. According to Gyamfi, although license renewals cause fluctuating operational figures, the GoldBod is taking active measures to capture the true magnitude of the artisanal and small-scale sectors, which have historically operated without proper data tracking.
“Before the Gold Board, anybody could buy gold because there was no centralized agency regulating it. But now you have one centralized agency, a state monopoly, rightly so, the Ghana Gold Board, now regulating this entire trade. Through our receipting system, we believe that we should be able to know the gold we are buying, which percentage comes from Upper East, which percentage comes from Savannah, which percentage comes from Central, and how is that distributed in those regions.”
Sammy Gyamfi
Elaborating on the strategic initiative, Gyamfi highlighted that the deployment of the geographical profiling model follows the successful consolidation and regulatory cleanup of Ghana’s previously fragmented gold trading ecosystem.
Prior to GoldBod’s establishment as the sole regulating authority, precious mineral purchases were characterized by administrative chaos, with parallel, unauthorized licensing issued by entities such as the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, and the Minerals Income Investment Fund. Under the unified regime, all gold buyers must undergo rigorous Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti-Money Laundering (AML), and Counter-Terrorism Financing (CFT) screenings.
Supported by an active force of trained inspectors and a daily surveillance task force patrolling trading hubs, GoldBod’s new receipting system requires transaction logs to record the regional origins including the Upper East, Savannah, and Central regions—and to distinguish between artisanal miners and small-scale operators.
Institutionalizing Data Transparency in Ghana’s Gold Sector
The deployment of geographical profiling marks a decisive departure from decades of statistical obscurity within Ghana’s extractive governance.
Traditionally, state institutions such as the Minerals Commission and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources lacked granular data on ASM output streams, leaving room for illicit financial flows, unregistered cross-border leakages, and unmonitored environmental degradation.
By compiling real-time spatial analytics over the coming months, GoldBod is effectively building the nation’s first empirical baseline for small-scale gold origins. This baseline will equip policymakers with accurate data to address supply chain vulnerabilities and close regulatory loopholes.
Cleaning Up the Downstream Trade and Enforcing Compliance
The centralized oversight system fundamentally restructures downstream gold logistics by cutting out illegal buyers and unaccredited middlemen.
Mandating strict AML and KYC compliance protocols before issuing buying licenses ensures that only vetted commercial entities participate in the trade.
Furthermore, deploying dedicated GoldBod market inspectors and field surveillance task forces creates a continuous enforcement framework on the ground. This physical presence deters informal off-record trading and ensures that every transaction is channeled through traceable, state-sanctioned receipting workflows.
Boosting International Market Confidence and National Revenue
Establishing a verified geographical footprint for small-scale gold aligns Ghana directly with global responsible sourcing mandates, such as the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas.
Internationally, bullion buyers and refineries demand verifiable proof that gold is extracted without funding conflict, violating human rights, or devastating ecological reserves.
By validating the precise origin of ASM production, GoldBod enhances the premium and marketability of Ghanaian gold internationally.
Ultimately, replacing a chaotic multi-agency regime with a transparent state monopoly secures higher tax compliance, increases foreign exchange reserves, and locks in national mineral revenues.
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