$4.6 Billion Worth of Ghana’s Gold Can’t Be Sold in Europe Due to Poor Standards—Sammy Gyamfi
The Managing Director of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC), Sammy Gyamfi, has indicated that Ghana is unable to sell $4.6 billion worth of its gold to European and U.S. markets because of the failure to meet London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) standards.
According to him, this challenge is due to the lack of a responsible sourcing and traceability procedure in Ghana’s gold sector.
Speaking on PM Express on Tuesday, 25th March, Sammy Gyamfi highlighted the issue of Ghana selling unrefined gold exports, which he believes limits Ghana’s profitability in the sector.
“Will you believe that as a country once called the Gold Coast, we still export unprocessed gold dory bars without refining?” he questioned.
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He also explained that Ghana does not only fail to refine its gold but also loses out on the valuable byproducts that are generated from refining gold, such as silver and copper, and emphasized the need for the country to reform the institutions responsible for such initiatives to help address these challenges.
“That is the case because you don’t have any agency promoting value addition. That is why John Mahama says we need a gold board, a state institution supported by the government to promote value addition, so we are going to ensure that in the medium term we ensure that we do not export dory bars again in the medium term.”
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Sammy Gyamfi stressed that the issue comes from the absence of a dedicated institution to oversee the trade of gold and value addition in the country; hence the reason to establish a Gold Board.
He further indicated that Ghana has refineries such as Gold Coast Refinery, yet they struggle to operate due to the inability to get gold locally; the proposed Gold Board will take over the mandate of the Precious Minerals Marketing Company (PMMC) and also ensure responsible sourcing, making Ghana’s gold for European and American markets.