Sammy Gyamfi, CEO of Goldbod
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Mr. Sammy Gyamfi, has revealed that the country will roll out a comprehensive gold traceability system by 2026 to formalize the small-scale mining sector and curb illegal gold trading.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosiisen programme, Mr. Gyamfi stressed the historic lack of traceability in Ghana’s small-scale gold mining sector, dating back to the colonial era, and emphasized that the current government under President John Dramani Mahama is determined to address the gap.
“We started mining gold since the colonial days and yet, to date, we don’t have any traceability system so we can identify our gold when it is exported or from which mine a particular gold is coming from,” Mr. Gyamfi lamented.
While large-scale mining operations have some level of traceability, the small-scale sector remains largely informal. Mr. Gyamfi said that the establishment of the Ghana Gold Board by the NDC government marks a major step toward remedying this.
“That is why when the NDC came, it established the Gold Board, and the Board renounced all previous licenses and introduced a new online licensing system,” he explained.
According to Mr Gyamfi, the new system ensures transparency and eliminates the need for physical human interaction during the licensing process.
Applicants can apply, pay, and track their application progress entirely online, except for the physical collection of the license.
“So nobody can claim that the Gold Board or I, the CEO, took any money from them for their licenses to be approved. So far, we’ve given 615 licenses in all the categories.”
He provided a breakdown of the licenses issued: Aggregator license: 1; Self-financing aggregator licenses: 4; Tier 2 (sub-aggregators): 263 approved, 192 issued; and Tier 1 buyers: 348 approved, 123 issued.
In total, 615 licences have been approved, with 319 already printed and issued.
Mr Gyamfi noted that the implementation of the traceability system will take time and must be treated as a medium-term goal.
“It was 2nd April that the law was passed. So is it within these three, four months that I should do all the traceability of the gold? No, it will take time. By 2026, we will have our own traceability system. We will procure the system and then onboard the miners,” he stated.
He added that once the system is in place, gold that cannot be traced to its origin may be blocked from export, and punitive measures will be introduced.
“When the gold is traceable—you can go to the LBM [London Bullion Market] refineries and get the LBM export price because you are qualified. But if the source of the gold cannot be traced, what do we do with it? It’s a very controversial issue for now,” he said.
Mr. Gyamfi called for public patience and support as the government embarks on this critical reform, describing it as essential to fighting illegal mining, safeguarding national revenue, and boosting investor confidence in Ghana’s mining sector.