Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson has announced that the government will soon end the export of raw gold as part of efforts to promote local value addition and strengthen Ghana’s gold processing industry.
He disclosed that significant progress has already been made in this direction, with the Gold Coast Refinery currently refining one metric tonne of gold locally each week. He added that the refinery has the capacity to process up to two metric tonnes weekly.
Speaking after a tour of the Gold Coast Refinery facility on Wednesday, February 4, Dr. Forson revealed that the Gold Board has agreed to supply the refinery with one metric tonne of gold per week for processing, with plans to scale up the supply in the near future.
The Finance Minister further explained that the Gold Board currently has the capacity to purchase about 2.5 tonnes of gold weekly and that the government intends to channel more of that supply into local refining.
“Clearly, this company, Gold Coast Refinery, has the ability to refine up to two tonnes of gold per week. Gold Board has agreed to provide them with one tonne of gold per week for refining. This will be scaled up to two tonnes per week in no time.
“Today, Gold Board has the capacity to buy 2.5 tonnes on average per week. It is our policy to ensure that, in the shortest possible time, we will not be exporting raw gold outside this country,” he said.
