Small-scale mining records highest output in over 100 years

Director of Analysis, Research and Finance at the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Christopher Nyarko, says small-scale mining has overtaken the large-scale sector as Ghana’s biggest source of gold for the first time in more than 100 years.

He said the change was recorded in 2025, when Ghana produced 5.94 million ounces of gold, up from 4.82 million ounces in 2024.

Small-scale miners alone produced 3.11 million ounces, representing 52.4% of the country’s total gold output.

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Speaking in an interview on The Point of View on Monday, August 17, 2026, Nyarko said the development was a major shift in Ghana’s mining history and could affect government revenue and jobs.

“In 2025, our output hit almost six million ounces, and that’s about the largest we have seen in our records. And it was very significant also for the fact that small-scale overtook large-scale mining for the very first time,” he said.

“This is the very first time we are seeing this in more than 100 years of mining in the country, and it has a lot of implications on the revenue side, on a governance perspective as well, and even for decent employment opportunities,” he added.

The rise in small-scale production was driven by a 63.82% increase from 1.90 million ounces in 2024.

Large-scale production, on the other hand, fell from 2.92 million ounces to 2.83 million ounces, causing its share of national output to drop from 60.6% to 47.6%.

Nyarko, however, warned that higher gold production does not always mean higher revenue for the state because much of the small-scale sector remains outside the formal tax system.

“Even though there’s a growth in export receipts or even in revenue from the sector, it will not translate into a commensurate growth in government receipts, mainly because the small-scale sector, largely, if I’ll put it very bluntly, it’s not a tax-paying sector,” he said.

He said gold remained the main driver of Ghana’s mineral exports, with mineral export earnings reaching about US$21.32 billion in 2025 and gold accounting for about 95%.

Nyarko also called for more investment in exploration, saying Ghana must find new deposits to replace minerals being taken out of the ground.

“Mining is one that you need to replace the ore that you are taking. It’s a finite resource. As you mine, the volume of material that you have available to mine will be depleting,” he said.

“The only way you can extend your production is to continue to invest,” he added.

ANAS/VPO

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