Ghana’s push to refine all its gold locally may not deliver the economic benefits many expect, Vice President of the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Bright Simons, has said.
He argued that building gold refineries should not be the country’s main strategy for making more money from its gold resources.
Speaking at the Students & Young Professionals African Liberty Academy (SYPALA), organised by IMANI, Mr Simons said gold refining was a low-margin business and, on its own, added little value to the gold.
He estimated that refining about $10 billion worth of gold in Ghana could add only about $32 million in value.
According to him, the real opportunity lies beyond refining, in developing a wider gold industry that includes jewellery manufacturing, financial services, mining equipment, technology and other businesses.
He cited Switzerland as an example, saying the country makes significant gains from gold because it has developed a wider ecosystem around the mineral, including jewellery, banking and gold trading.
“Instead of asking only how we can refine our gold, we should ask what other businesses gold can create,” he suggested.
Bright Simons also cautioned policymakers against making decisions simply because they are politically popular.
He said policies must be tested against data, costs and expected results.
He further challenged the widely repeated claim that Africa holds about 30 per cent of the world’s mineral resources, saying the figure lacked a strong statistical basis.
He called for better geological data, increased mineral exploration and a strategy that focuses on minerals needed for Africa’s industrialisation.
Bright Simons urged young Africans to develop stronger policy knowledge and demand evidence from governments.
He said Ghana could benefit more from its mineral resources if policymakers looked at the entire value chain rather than focusing on attractive but potentially low-profit projects such as gold refining.
Ghana|Atinkaonline.com|Ebenezer Madugu
[…] Gold Refinery Not the Way to Maximize Ghana’s Gold Wealth – Bright Simons […]