GoldBod unveils Ghana Gold Village -

By ELVIS DARKO, Accra

The planned Ghana Gold Village is set to become a major platform for local jewellery manufacturing, gold fabrication, skills development and enterprise creation as Ghana seeks to retain a larger share of the economic value generated from its gold resources.

The project, to be established by the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) in partnership with the private sector, is expected to connect Ghana’s gold production with downstream industries and international markets for Ghanaian gold products.

Implementation of the project will be led by GoldBod’s subsidiary, GoldBod Jewellery Limited, and is intended to create opportunities for Ghanaian jewellers, fabricators, entrepreneurs and other players in the gold value chain.

Chief Executive Officer of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, announced the initiative at the National Mining Dialogue in Accra, held under the theme “Rethinking the Social License to Operate.”

He said the Ghana Gold Village would form part of a broader strategy to move the country beyond the export of raw gold and create more jobs, businesses and industrial opportunities from the mineral resource.

The initiative, he said, would help position Ghana not only as a major producer of gold but also as a centre for refining, jewellery production, fabrication and other downstream activities.

From gold production to value creation
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod was working to ensure that Ghanaians became more active participants in the gold economy and that a greater proportion of the wealth generated from the country’s mineral resources remained within the domestic economy.

He said the GoldBod had opened greater space for Ghanaian jewellers, refiners and young entrepreneurs to move from being spectators in the gold industry to becoming active participants in the value chain.

“This will serve as a platform for skills, enterprise, jobs and industrial growth,” he said of the Ghana Gold Village.

The project is expected to provide opportunities for training and skills development while supporting businesses engaged in jewellery manufacturing and gold fabrication.

It is also expected to create a platform through which Ghanaian-made gold products can access international markets.

GoldBod targets gold smuggling
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod’s efforts to formalise the gold trade and combat smuggling had also generated significant foreign exchange for the country.

Since its establishment, he said, GoldBod had facilitated the formal export of about 170 tonnes of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold from 2025 to date.

According to him, those exports generated more than US$17 billion in foreign exchange, contributing to foreign exchange market stability, strengthening reserves and supporting broader macroeconomic stability.

He said the formalisation of gold trading was also intended to ensure that more of the benefits associated with Ghana’s mineral resources accrued to Ghanaians.

The approach, he said, would help improve living conditions while creating opportunities for local businesses and workers.

Ghana begins refining its own gold
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod was also making progress in addressing Ghana’s historically limited local gold refining capacity.

He said nearly nine tonnes of gold aggregated by GoldBod had been refined in Ghana this year alone, describing the development as an important step towards retaining more value domestically.

For decades, Ghana has exported large quantities of gold while much of the refining and downstream processing has taken place outside the country.

Mr Gyamfi said increasing local refining would retain refining fees and related economic benefits within Ghana while creating jobs and strengthening the domestic gold industry.

The development is also expected to support the emergence of businesses around refining, jewellery, fabrication, logistics, packaging and other associated services.

GoldBod backs geological exploration
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod was also tackling another major barrier to greater Ghanaian participation in mining—the high cost and risk associated with geological exploration.

Under its Mining Support Programme, GoldBod is partnering with the Ghana Geological Survey Authority to undertake geological investigations in mineralised areas.

The objective, he said, was to identify commercially viable mineral deposits, reduce investment risks and attract credible investors while expanding Ghana’s mining base responsibly.

Geological investigations are currently underway at Funsi in the Upper West Region and Bensere in the Ashanti Region.

The studies are expected to help establish a reliable, investment-grade portfolio of mineral assets.
Mr Gyamfi said the programme would also strengthen GoldBod’s position to negotiate equity participation in model mines that emerge from the exploration programme.

“These are not ordinary commercial interventions; they are strategic investments to expand production, ownership and socio-economic impact for Ghana,” he said.

National assay laboratory planned
GoldBod is also preparing to address concerns over gold purity determination and possible under-declaration of mineral revenues through the construction of a national assay laboratory.

Mr Gyamfi said construction of an ultra-modern, ISO-certified National Assay Laboratory was expected to begin by November 2026.

The facility, he said, would transform Ghana’s assay system and enable GoldBod, as the national assayer, to conduct internationally recognised fire assay testing on ASM and large-scale gold before export.

He said the project would help reduce purity losses and improve the accuracy of gold valuation and revenue determination.

The land for the facility has already been secured at the Aviance Cargo Village at the Accra International Airport, while architectural drawings and bills of quantities have been completed.

A procurement process is currently underway to select a contractor for construction. The laboratory is expected to strengthen transparency in gold trading and improve Ghana’s ability to determine the true value and quality of gold produced in the country.

ASM drives gold production
Mr Gyamfi also highlighted the growing importance of artisanal and small-scale mining to Ghana’s gold economy.

He cited 2025 production data showing that Ghana produced approximately 5.94 million ounces of gold, with ASM contributing about 3.11 million ounces, representing 52.4 per cent of national output.

For the first time in more than a century of commercial mining in Ghana, he said, ASM production exceeded that of the large-scale mining sector.

He described the development as evidence of the productive capacity of Ghanaian participation in the gold economy.

The challenge, he said, was to ensure that ASM activity was formalised, responsible and environmentally sustainable while creating more opportunities for Ghanaians to participate in the broader value chain.

Building mining communities around opportunity
Mr Gyamfi said GoldBod’s wider objective was to create a mining sector in which people living in mineral-rich communities could see a future for themselves beyond low-skilled and casual employment.

He said the country should build a sector where “the child of a mining community can easily aspire and become a geologist, engineer, jeweller, fabricator, environmental scientist, equipment operator, entrepreneur or mine owner.”

He said mining communities should not merely hear about the benefits of mining but should experience those benefits through employment, enterprise opportunities, skills development, infrastructure and improved living standards.

He also called for regulators to earn public confidence by being firm, fair and transparent in the discharge of their responsibilities.

If such a model was achieved, he said, Ghana could develop prosperous mining towns, strategic industries around its mineral resources and deeper trust between communities, mining companies, regulators and the state.

Gold remains economic anchor
Mr Gyamfi said gold had become increasingly important to Ghana’s external trade and macroeconomic stability.

He cited 2025 merchandise trade data showing total exports of approximately US$32 billion, with gold accounting for about US$20.2 billion, representing roughly 63.1 per cent of total export earnings.

He said gold had contributed to record trade surpluses, strengthened Ghana’s foreign reserves, supported currency appreciation and helped anchor recent economic stability.

The challenge, however, was to ensure that the country’s dependence on gold exports translated into broader industrial development.

The Ghana Gold Village, local refining, the national assay laboratory, geological exploration and the Mining Support Programme are therefore being positioned as components of a wider strategy to transform Ghana from predominantly a gold-producing country into a country that also owns, refines, fabricates and manufactures from its gold.

That transition, Mr Gyamfi suggested, would ensure that the country’s gold wealth generates not only foreign exchange but also sustainable jobs, local businesses, technical skills and long-term industrial growth.