President John Dramani Mahama has announced plans to move Ghana towards full local gold refining, so that all of the country’s gold is refined at home before export.
Speaking at the FT Africa Summit in the United Kingdom, he said the aim is to increase value addition, create jobs and maximize the economic benefits of Ghana’s mineral resources.
President Mahama said Ghana had made significant progress in domestic gold refining. Approximately 70 per cent of its gold is now refined locally before being exported.
He said the government intended to build on that progress so that more of the value generated from the country’s mineral wealth remains within the domestic economy.
“We have done marvelously with gold. Seventy per cent of our gold is currently being refined in Ghana before it is exported, instead of digging out the raw bullion and exporting it to be refined somewhere else,” he stated.
The President expressed confidence that Ghana could achieve full local refining. He also said the country would expand its downstream jewellery industry to widen the range of gold products exported to international markets.
“We are increasingly refining our gold, and I am sure that soon we will refine 100 percent of it. We are also looking at expanding the downstream jewellery industry so that we can export jewellery,” he said.
His remarks form part of a broader government agenda to move Ghana away from exporting raw materials towards processing and manufacturing products locally.
He argued that Africa could no longer afford to remain a supplier of raw materials to the global market while importing finished products. In his view, the continent already has the resources and human capital needed to develop its own industries
By Prekeh Media
