Ghana opens new gold refinery

Ghana on Thursday opened a new gold refinery, the first of its kind in West Africa, to bring more value from the natural resource and solidify its standing as continent’s top gold producer.

The Royal Ghana Gold Refinery is set to become only the second in Africa to achieve the prestigious London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Good Delivery Bar Certification.

The state-of-the-art refinery, located in Accra, was commissioned on Thursday by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, who hailed it as a “historic achievement… towards economic transformation and industrialisation.”

The refinery, a partnership with the Bank of Ghana and Rosy Royal Minerals Limited, has the capacity to refine up to 400 kilogrammes of gold per day.

This amounts to an annual capacity of 120 tons, sufficient to process all of Ghana’s gold production, which averages around four million ounces per year.

Currently, Ghana’s gold is exported in unprocessed form, meaning the country misses out on significant revenue that could be retained through local refining.

Finance minister Mohammed Amin Adam said while gold accounts for approximately 96 percent of Ghana’s minerals exports, the raw state of the commodity limits the country’s revenue potential.

“The new refinery opens many doors for economic transformation by creating jobs that will have a multiplying effect on the local economy,” he said.

Ghana is Africa’s leading gold producer, with the precious metal accounting for over half of the country’s total exports.

In the first half of 2024, gold exports soared, driven by a surge in global gold prices and increased production.

The spike in prices, which saw gold reach a record $2,338 an ounce in the second quarter, contributed to gold exports totalling $5bn, or 54 percent of the country’s total exports.

Illegal mining has been a major problem of the West African country as it tries to address environmental degradation and pollution of water bodies.