Former Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), Chief Executive Officer, Nana Akwasi Awuah has advocated for the immediate creation of a unified continental alliance among African gold-producing and refining nations to maximize economic returns from their mineral wealth.
Following the recent commissioning of Burkina Faso’s inaugural state-owned gold processing plant, Awuah underscored that the rapid expansion of refining infrastructure across West Africa necessitates a coordinated strategy to strengthen local value-addition, protect national economic sovereign rights, and harmonize regional mineral supply chains against external trade pressures.
“I believe the formation of an African Gold Producers Association (AGPA) is long overdue. An association such as that will go a long way to ensure that member countries retain and maximize the benefits of this precious mineral for the people of their countries and the continent as a whole.”
Nana Akwasi Awuah
Expanding on his call for regional industrial collaboration, the former state executive highlighted that while several African gold-producing nations have successfully commissioned domestic processing facilities, the majority continue to face systemic barriers when attempting to access global bullion markets.
Currently, only one facility on the entire continent maintains accreditation from the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), an international credential that opens primary markets across Europe and North America.
By forming a collective trading entity, regional refineries can pool technical capabilities, standardize governance practices, and jointly negotiate trade access, thereby transforming fragmented national efforts into a dominant continental force in the international gold trade.
Accelerating Resource Nationalism and Value Addition
The surge in regional refining capacity represents a decisive departure from decades of exporting unrefined, raw dore gold to foreign markets.
In West Africa, Ghana led this structural transition under former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia through the establishment of the Royal Ghana Gold Refinery, marking the nation’s first processing plant with direct state equity participation.
Following Ghana’s pioneering framework, Burkina Faso officially commissioned its first state-owned gold refinery on Monday, reinforcing a broader trend toward resource nationalism.
Mr. Awuah observed that “Africa is taking the right decisions as far as its natural resources are concerned,” stressing that domestic processing ensures greater economic retention than relying strictly on unrefined mineral shipments.
Strategic Roadmap for Institutional Integration
Recognizing the administrative and diplomatic complexities of establishing an all-encompassing producer bloc, Awuah proposed a phased implementation roadmap to accelerate operational integration.
He suggested that “it could start with the formation of an African Gold Refineries Association (AGRA) which will then eventually evolve into the African Gold Producers Association (AGPA).”
Establishing a refinery-specific alliance first provides an immediate platform to resolve technical hurdles, bridge regulatory gaps between member states, and coordinate institutional standards across existing state-owned and private facilities.
This preliminary alliance would lay the groundwork for a broader geopolitical producer bloc capable of establishing sovereign pricing benchmarks and trade terms.
Overcoming Global Barriers Through Continental Synergies
The necessity for a unified continental association is further underscored by the stringent compliance demands imposed by international bullion markets.
Without widespread LBMA accreditation, emerging African refineries struggle to achieve market liquidity, forcing many operators to export dore gold through intermediary hubs that capture downstream margins.
Uniting under a shared institutional umbrella enables member nations to align their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, establish transparent supply chain tracing mechanisms, and build collective bargaining leverage.
“There must be a strategy to create synergies across the continent and one such way is to unite en bloc through these associations,” Awuah noted, emphasizing that structural unity remains the most viable pathway to secure equitable resource benefits for African citizens.
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