Ghana’s gold governance model under the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) is attracting growing interest from other African countries, with seven nations sending delegations to study how the country is formalising and regulating artisanal and small-scale gold mining.
Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Sudan and Namibia have all visited GoldBod within the past year to learn from Ghana’s approach to creating a more formal, traceable and structured gold trading system.
According to GoldBod, the visiting delegations have been particularly interested in how Ghana is integrating artisanal and small-scale miners into the formal gold economy while strengthening traceability and governance.
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Finance, Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, described the GoldBod model as a potential blueprint for sustainable gold-sector reforms across Africa.
A delegation from Tanzania’s Minerals Commission, led by Dr Theresia Numbi, also expressed interest in Ghana’s experience after comparing approaches in several countries.
The delegation described Ghana as a pioneer and a centre of excellence in gold governance on the continent.
Namibia’s delegation similarly described the GoldBod framework as robust and said it could draw lessons from Ghana’s experience in managing the gold sector.
The interest comes as Ghana continues efforts to transform the gold sector through formalisation, improved traceability and stronger oversight of artisanal and small-scale mining.
GoldBod was established as part of government’s efforts to reorganise Ghana’s gold trading system and improve the country’s ability to capture greater value from its gold resources.
The visits by the seven countries suggest that Ghana’s efforts are being closely monitored by other gold-producing countries seeking approaches to address informality, traceability and sustainable management of the sector.
GoldBod said the growing interest demonstrates that Ghana’s experience could provide useful lessons for other African countries seeking to reform their gold industries.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com|Mavis Fantevi
