Ghana’s small-scale gold exports have increased to US$11.6 billion as of October 20, 2026, following reforms introduced by the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), to formalise the gold trading sector.
The exports represented 85.4 tonnes of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold, and recorded more than the performance of the large-scale mining sector.
“From January 1, 2026, to October 20, 2026, the GoldBod has aggregated and exported 85.4 tonnes of ASM gold valued at US$11.6 billion against total large-scale exports of 76 tonnes worth US$11.1 billion for the same period,” said GoldBod Chief Executive Officer, Sammy Gyamfi.
He made this known at the African Minerals Policy Forum – Mining In Motion Conference 2026 in Accra under the theme, “From Gold Production to National Prosperity: Ghana’s GoldBod Model for Mineral Sovereignty and Value Addition.”
The GoldBod CEO said the figures demonstrated the impact of reforms introduced to ensure that the country derived greater economic benefits from its gold resources as well as curb smuggling and increase foreign exchange inflows into the economy.
He attributed the performance to measures implemented since the establishment of GoldBod to address longstanding challenges in the gold trade, including smuggling, under-declaration and the failure to repatriate foreign exchange earnings from gold exports.
He said to address the challenges, GoldBod introduced a four-tier licensing regime, transparent pricing and digital stock-booking systems to improve accountability and formalise gold trading.
Mr. Gyamfi also indicated that foreign participation in direct gold trading in local markets was also prohibited, making the activity the exclusive preserve of Ghanaians.
He said the GoldBod established a special task force and an inspectorate to monitor compliance, strengthen market surveillance and gather intelligence on illegal gold trading and smuggling.
The reforms have produced significant gains, with small-scale gold exports increasing from 63 tonnes in 2024 to approximately 104 tonnes in 2025.
Mr. Gyamfi described the gains as a “production claw back,” stating that GoldBod had not created new gold production but had brought previously unrecorded gold trade into the formal economy.
“The Ghana Gold Board did not create gold that did not exist or was not already being produced; through reforms, it achieved what I call a production claw back, recovering into the official economy gold that was already being produced but was previously lost to smuggling and the illegal gold trade,” he said.
He mentioned that apart from increasing exports, GoldBod is pursuing local refining to retain more value from the country’s mineral resources.
The Chief Executive said agreements with Gold Coast Refinery and Royal Ghana Gold Refinery had resulted in the local refining of 25 tonnes of ASM gold purchased and exported by GoldBod in 2026, representing about 30 per cent of the sector’s exports as of October 20.
“Our mineral wealth must become more than an export statistic; it must strengthen our reserves, stabilise our foreign-exchange markets and currencies, power African enterprise and create dignified work for our growing youth population,” the CEO noted.
Mahama Backs Local Gold Testing & Refining
President John Dramani Mahama has put his weight behind GoldBod’s planned expansion of local gold testing and refining as part of a broader strategy to increase value addition and strengthen Ghana’s position in the gold industry.
Addressing the 2026 Mining in Motion Summit, organised by the African Minerals Policy Centre in Accra, the President said Ghana was working to retain more economic benefits from its natural resources by developing domestic capacity for processing and related services.
“Through the Ghana Gold Board and our gold refining policy, we are working to retain more value through assaying, refining, and related services,” he said.
The policy seeks to strengthen local participation in key stages of the gold value chain, particularly assaying, which determines the purity and quality of gold, and refining, which processes the metal to meet commercial standards.
Developing these capabilities locally could create new opportunities for Ghanaian businesses, technicians and other professionals while supporting investment in mineral processing infrastructure.
The move also reflects a broader government objective to reduce the country’s dependence on exporting raw minerals and instead promote local processing to generate additional economic activity.
At the summit, President Mahama stressed the importance of African countries taking greater control of their mineral resources and ensuring that the benefits of extraction translate into industrial development and employment.
He said Ghana was pursuing measures to promote domestic processing and had set a goal of ending raw mineral ore exports by 2030, supported by legal measures and mineral-specific implementation requirements.
The gold testing and refining initiative fits into this broader strategy by seeking to retain more value within Ghana through services that are essential to the gold trade.
GoldBod’s role in formalising and regulating the small-scale gold sector provides an important institutional framework for these efforts. Stronger local testing and refining capacity could also support transparency and quality assurance in gold transactions.
The extent of the policy’s benefits will depend on how effectively the country expands its technical capacity, infrastructure and participation by local businesses.
The government’s objective is to build a more integrated mineral industry in which Ghana captures greater economic returns not only from extracting gold but also from testing, refining and other value-added activities.
By Ebenezer K. Amponsah