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Accra — Ghana has ordered all large-scale mining companies to sell 20% of their entire stock of refined gold at their refineries to the Bank of Ghana from January 1, 2023, vice-president Mahamudu Bawumia said on Facebook on Friday.
The move is part of measures to operationalise a government plan to use gold to buy oil-products announced on Thursday by Bawumia. It is meant to tackle dwindling foreign currency reserves.
“The Bank of Ghana and the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) will co-ordinate with the large-scale mining companies to ensure compliance with this directive,” the vice-president’s post on Facebook said.
All community mining schemes and licensed small-scale miners will also have to sell their gold to the government through PMMC from the same date onwards. This will be mandated by a clause in their licenses, he said.
“The gold to be purchased by the Bank of Ghana and the PMMC will be in cedis at spot price with no discounts,” he added.
However, Bank of Ghana communications officer Sam Opoku told Reuters he could not confirm or deny whether Bawumia’s order was being considered.
Gold Fields said on Friday that neither the Ghana Chamber of Mines nor its Gold Fields Ghana unit were formally approached on Ghana’s order to sell 20% of their refined gold to the central bank, a spokesperson said.
Gold miners Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti, Galiano Gold and Asante Gold, all of which have gold mines in Ghana, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Reuters
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