A delegation from Malawi, led by the Minister for Mines, Honourable Thokozani Tembo, has visited the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) to study Ghana’s reforms in the gold sector, with particular focus on licensing, pricing, formalisation and efforts to combat smuggling.
The engagement provided the delegation with an opportunity to examine GoldBod’s regulatory framework and understand how Ghana is organising its gold-trading industry to maximise foreign-exchange earnings and retain greater value from its mineral resources.
Honourable Tembo said Malawi was seeking practical lessons from Ghana’s experience so that it could avoid the challenges associated with developing a gold industry without effective purchasing and regulatory systems.
The delegation expressed particular interest in addressing price disparities between official purchasing channels and informal buyers, which contribute to gold smuggling and weaken formal trade.
They noted that closing the gap between official and informal prices is central to encouraging miners and dealers to use formal channels, thereby improving traceability and government revenue.
GoldBod’s Director of Responsible Mining and Sustainability, Professor Ishmael Quaicoe, explained that establishing the Board under the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140) consolidated key gold-trading functions that were previously spread across several institutions.
He said the arrangement had created a more coordinated system, with GoldBod responsible for the gold-trading value chain, including purchasing, assaying, refining and exporting, while the Minerals Commission retains responsibility for regulating mining operations.
Professor Quaicoe also outlined GoldBod’s four-tier licensing system, which covers grassroots buying agents, regional buyers, aggregators and self-financed aggregators.
The tiered structure is intended to bring different categories of buyers into a regulated framework, improve oversight and support responsible sourcing across the value chain.
The visit underscored Ghana’s growing role as a reference point for African countries seeking to strengthen gold-sector governance and improve value retention. Read more...
Malawi Delegation Visits GoldBod: Studying Ghana’s Gold-Sector Reforms #FrizeMedia https://buff.ly/MbfR5FP
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