The head of Ghana's central bank's gold management department, Paul Bribbe, announced on Friday that starting from June 1st, the proportion of gold production from large gold mining enterprises that must be sold to the central bank will be significantly increased from 20% to 30%. Unlike previous purchases of refined gold, the new policy requires mining enterprises to deliver the unrefined raw gold (Doré) in its unrefined form.
At the same time, the mining enterprises must offer the central bank a 0.6% price discount. According to the arrangement, the purchased raw gold will first undergo preliminary processing at the Gold Coast Refinery in Accra, and then be transported to the Rand Refinery in South Africa for obtaining LBMA certification. The Ghanaian central bank stated that this move aims to enhance the country's gold refining capacity, create jobs, and accelerate the replenishment of foreign exchange reserves to stabilize the local currency exchange rate. Ghana is the largest gold producer in Africa. In 2022, it launched a central bank gold purchase plan, with the goal of increasing its gold reserves from the current 19.2 tons to 157 tons by 2028, which can cover about 15 months of import demand for the country. This policy applies to all large gold mining enterprises operating in Ghana, including international giants such as AngloGold Ashanti from South Africa, AngloGold Ghana from the UK, and Newmont Mining from the US.
