The introduction of institutional licensing, and value-addition reforms by the Ghana Gold Board have created 4,866 direct jobs in less than two years, its Chief Executive Officer Sammy Gyamfi, Esq., has disclosed.
The jobs comprise 361 public-sector positions and 4,505 private-sector jobs, according to Mr. Gyamfi, who delivered the figures in a keynote address at the African Minerals Policy Forum – Mining in Motion 2026, held in Accra yesterday.
He said the reforms were opening additional indirect employment opportunities across the gold value chain, particularly for artisanal smelters, jewellers and young entrepreneurs.
The GoldBod CEO posited that Africa’s mineral wealth must be assessed not only by the volume of minerals extracted and exported but also by the jobs, industries, revenue and shared prosperity generated for its people.
Themed: “From Gold Production to National Prosperity: Ghana’s GoldBod Model for Mineral Sovereignty and Value Addition,” the GodBod CEO observed at the event that Africa’s rapidly growing youth population faced high unemployment and limited opportunities for decent work, making the creation of productive industries around the continent’s mineral resources an urgent priority.
Mr. Gyamfi maintained that the benefits of mining should extend beyond extraction and exports to include local processing, refining, equipment supply, financing, engineering and indigenous enterprise development.
He said GoldBod’s reforms were intended to create opportunities for Ghanaians to participate more meaningfully in the gold industry while strengthening the country’s ability to retain value from its mineral resources.
As part of this agenda, GoldBod plans to introduce an Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Formalization and Financing Support Programme in 2027.
The programme will be implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources and the University of Mines and Technology, with technical support from South Africa’s Rand Refinery.
Mr. Gyamfi said the initiative would seek to sustainably increase gold production, mineral revenue and employment while reducing operational costs and environmental degradation associated with artisanal and small-scale mining.
He added that properly organised small-scale mining, supported by modern technology and appropriate financing, could improve mineral recovery rates, enhance safety, reduce environmental damage and create productive opportunities for young Africans.
The CEO also highlighted GoldBod’s Mining Support Programme, under which geological investigations are being undertaken in partnership with the Ghana Geological Survey Authority at Funsi in the Upper West Region and Bensere in the Ashanti Region.
The studies are expected to help de-risk investments, build an investment-grade portfolio of mineral assets and improve Ghana’s negotiating position in prospective mining ventures.
Mr. Gyamfi said Ghana needed to move beyond dependence on free-carried interests and royalties towards securing equity ownership in sustainable mines.
He stressed that mineral sovereignty would remain incomplete if Africans continued to be confined to low-value activities while finance, technology, processing and the most lucrative opportunities remained under external control.
He called for deliberate policies that would enable local enterprises and young African professionals to become mine owners, geologists, engineers, equipment providers, financiers, processors, refiners and traders.
“Here lies the central lesson of Ghana’s story. The Ghana Gold Board did not create gold that did not exist or was not already being produced; through reforms it achieved what I call a production claw back – recovering into the official economy, gold that was already being produced but was previously lost to smuggling and the illegal gold trade headlines and alternatives,” Sammy Gyamfi disclosed.
