Ghana must refine its gold locally to create jobs - Ato Forson

Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson has called for a deliberate push to refine Ghana’s gold locally, saying the country must create more jobs and retain greater value from its mineral wealth.

Speaking during an engagement with faculty and students of the University of Ghana, Dr Forson questioned the longstanding practice of sending gold mined in Ghana abroad for refining, arguing that the country was missing opportunities to develop an industry around its own resources.

“In fact, we’ve been producing gold for a long time. Companies come here, mine gold, send it to South Africa to refine and send it to Europe,” he said.

“I mean, the time has come for us to stop it.”

The minister said Ghana needed to be more deliberate about building a domestic gold industry, with refining providing a foundation for employment and other businesses along the value chain.

Pointing to the volume of gold purchased by GoldBod, he argued that the country had an opportunity to support local processing and generate jobs, even if the initial employment gains were modest.

“GoldBod alone buys three tonnes of gold every month,” Dr Forson said. “We can create some jobs, even if it is two or three jobs.”

He explained that the benefits would extend beyond the jobs directly created through refining. Developing the industry locally, he said, could encourage other commercial activities and allow more of the value generated by gold to remain in Ghana.

“We are creating jobs and adding value locally. Within the process, there will be other value chains that will be created,” he said.

Dr Forson also envisaged the emergence of a gold souk, or gold trading market, as part of a broader domestic industry.

Beyond processing Ghana’s own gold, the minister said a developed refining industry could attract supplies from other gold-producing countries in West Africa, positioning Ghana as a regional centre for processing and trading the precious metal.

“If we create that industry, Burkina Faso gold will come to Ghana, Niger will come to Ghana, Mali will come to Ghana,” he said.

He added that gold from neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire could also come to Ghana for processing.

Responding to a contribution during the engagement, Dr Forson expressed agreement with the case for greater local value addition, stressing that Ghana had not pursued the opportunity with sufficient purpose.

“So we haven’t been deliberate about it,” he said.