Stakeholder engagement on GoldBod underway - Awaits Cabinet, parliamentary approval

The government is ramping up processes for the establishment of a Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) to operate as the sole purchaser of gold from the legal small-scale mining sector.

So far, a draft bill for the establishment of the board has gone through stakeholder consultations and received support from small-scale mining sector players and other value chain members.

The bill has also been approved by the ministries of Finance, Land and Natural Resources and the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

The acting Managing Director of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), Sammy Gyamfi, told the Daily Graphic that the only pending approvals for the GoldBod were the Cabinet and Parliament.

"The Ministry of Finance and the technical committee for the GoldBod are working on these approvals and hope to secure it soon," he said.

The bill is expected to be passed by Parliament and receive presidential assent by the end of March this year. 

Stakeholder engagement

Mr Gyamfi said while awaiting approvals by Cabinet and Parliament, he had been spearheading a series of engagements with relevant stakeholders "and the response has been massive".

He said the GoldBod technical committee concluded the third series of such stakeholder engagements at the Miklin Hotel in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, last week. It was attended by small-scale miners, gold dealers and jewellers.

"Attendance was massive and the discussions were very engaging and insightful," Mr Gyamfi said.

He said the engagements held in Accra, Koforidua and Kumasi sought to solicit inputs from industry players such as small-scale miners, gold dealers and jewellers.

The acting MD said that the participants overwhelmingly lauded the GoldBod initiative by President John Mahama as the game-changer required to restructure and streamline the gold trading industry for the optimisation of national benefits across the gold value chain. 

Benefits

Mr Gyamfi further said that when the GoldBod Bill was passed into law, the board would take over PMMC "with enhanced objectives, powers and functions, and shall operate with the primary objective of generating forex for the country and supporting the gold reserve accumulation programme of the Bank of Ghana".

He said the GoldBod would be the sole authority with the exclusive right to buy, sell and export gold from the small-scale mining industry, with rights to buy and export a portion or all of the gold produced.

"The GoldBod shall also pursue value addition policies, promote responsible sourcing and traceability, aggressively combat gold smuggling and provide support for small-scale miners in the form of geological investigations, concession viability and equipment financing," Mr Gyamfi added.

Background

The government set up a 21-member technical committee on January 27, this year, to develop a comprehensive and robust legal and operational framework for the GoldBod.

The board is expected to serve as a vehicle for achieving currency stability through the structured purchasing and management of the country’s gold resources.

Again, the GoldBod will operate as the sole purchaser of gold from the legal small-scale mining sector through licensed aggregators and local traders and be mandated to regulate and streamline the sector.

The committee, with diverse expertise and industry experience, was expected to work on the proposed GoldBod Bill and associated amendment of bills and present it to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice by February 13, this year.