Chairman of the Ghana National Association of Small-Scale Mining in charge of the Upper East and North East regions, Yaw Mort, has welcomed a new directive from the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) banning foreigners and individuals from trading in Ghana’s local gold mining market.
Speaking to A1 Radio, Mr. Mort described the directive as a significant move to restore local control over Ghana’s gold trade, enhance revenue generation, and stabilize the country’s struggling currency.
“The directive is going to work in favor of the small-scale miners as far as our buying and selling is concerned. It will be to our advantage such that there will not be a monopoly again because we have people foreigners sitting in Accra and sponsoring people in the regions to buy gold to the detriment of others who don’t have money. With GoldBod coming on board, it is going to be categorized so that small-scale miners who are into buying and selling can also have business to do and that will create a lot of job opportunities for the teaming youth,” he said.
The Ghana Gold Board, under the newly enacted Ghana Gold Board Act, now holds exclusive rights to regulate the buying, selling, assaying, and export of gold from the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector. According to the directive issued by the Board on May 1, 2025, foreigners or individuals wishing to continue in the gold trade must now apply directly to the GoldBod to purchase or off-take gold.
Mr. Mort stressed that the presence of foreign nationals in the sector has skewed the trade in favor of foreign currencies, particularly the US dollar, contributing to the depreciation of the cedi. He believes the centralized regulation will force a shift back to trading in the local currency, bolstering its value.
“For some time now, our gold market has been flooded by foreigners and that is making the cedi very weak. So with GoldBod coming on board, it will stabilize our cedi such that everything will now be in cedi, not in dollars. Trading in the gold market has always been in dollars but not in cedis and as a result, the dollar keeps rising against the cedis. This is why the government thinks that dealing in the gold market in cedis will stabilize the economy and bring the dollar down. So, I think it is a very good initiative and we as small-scale miners are full in support of it,” he added.
He further noted that by curbing foreign dominance, the directive would also encourage more Ghanaians to venture into the gold trade, creating job opportunities and allowing small-scale miners to receive fairer prices for their gold.
The move comes at a time when Ghana, one of Africa’s top gold producers, is seeking to formalize the small-scale mining sector and curb the negative impact of unregulated mining on the environment and economy.
Mr. Mort commended the government and the GoldBod for what he called a “bold and timely intervention” and called for strict enforcement to ensure the directive achieves its intended objectives.
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