According to Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia’s Facebook post on Friday, Ghana has ordered all significant mining firms to transfer 20% of the whole stock of refined gold they have at their refineries to the Bank of Ghana as of January 1, 2023.
The action is part of steps to operationalize a government plan to utilize gold to purchase oil-related products that Bawumia revealed on Thursday. It is intended to address declining foreign exchange reserves.
The Vice-President posted on Facebook on Friday that “The Bank of Ghana and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) will coordinate with the large-scale mining companies to ensure compliance with this directive.”
Beginning on the same date, all community mining initiatives and authorized small-scale miners will also be required to sell their gold to the government through PMMC. A provision in their licenses will require this, he said.
The Bank of Ghana and the PMMC will buy the gold at the spot price, without any discounts, he continued.
Sam Opoku, the communications officer for the Bank of Ghana, told reporters he was unable to confirm or deny whether Bawumia’s order was being taken into consideration.
All of the gold miners with operations in Ghana—Newmont Corp., Gold Fields Ltd., AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Galiano Gold Inc., and Asante Gold Corp.—did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
