Ghana’s plan to refine gold locally and introduce fire assay operations from October 2025 is being hailed as a turning point in the country’s mining sector. The Ghana Gold Board says the initiative will move the nation away from exporting doré and instead position Ghana as a hub for bullion trade on the continent.
“Our aim is to shift Ghana’s assay regime from XRF and water density to fire assay for all gold, both small-scale and large-scale, produced in or exported from Ghana,” Gold Board CEO Sammy Gyamfi said at the Mining and Minerals Convention in Accra. He called the initiative “about asserting our sovereignty over our gold wealth and making sure our people benefit fully from the resources that God has blessed us with.”
The economic case is clear. Refining at home means capturing more value from each ounce of gold, strengthening foreign exchange buffers, and asserting control over a resource long siphoned away through exports of semi-processed doré. With Ghana’s official reserves now at 32.99 tonnes as of June 2025, every extra dollar retained matters in stabilising the cedi and financing development.
But here lies the contradiction, Ghana cannot project itself as a global bullion hub while vast stretches of arable land, forests, and rivers are being ripped apart by illegal mining. Galamsey continues to poison water bodies, drive deforestation, and destroy farmland. Every bag of maize or cocoa lost to polluted soil chips away at the same economy the Gold Board is trying to fortify.
This is where sovereignty over gold must meet sovereignty over land and water. The state can build ISO-certified assay labs and promise international-standard refineries, but if galamsey keeps eroding ecosystems and rural livelihoods, the long-term costs will outweigh the bullion gains.
Illegal mining thrives on weak enforcement, community desperation, and sometimes the very absence of opportunities in formal sectors like agriculture. Unless the government matches its refining push with an equally aggressive crackdown on galamsey, coupled with real alternatives for rural youth, the promise of “value addition” will ring hollow.
If Ghana is to shift from exporting raw doré to refined bullion, it must also shift from tolerating mud-stained rivers to protecting its natural heritage. A refinery may symbolise progress, but the true measure will be whether villagers can still drink from their streams, farm their land, and see gold as a blessing rather than a curse.
In the end, the choice is stark, bullion or mud. Ghana’s gold future depends not just on laboratories and refineries, but on whether the nation has the will to end galamsey once and for all.
