Ghana has officially commenced refining gold purchased from the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector following the start of operations by the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) in partnership with Gold Coast Refinery.
The milestone was marked Wednesday by a tour of the Gold Coast Refinery by Minister for Finance and Economic Planning Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, alongside Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GoldBod Sammy Gyamfi and other senior officials and board members. The visit follows the historic agreement signed on Tuesday, January 20, under which Gold Coast Refinery will refine all ASM gold purchased by GoldBod, with operations scheduled to begin this month.
During the tour, Executive Chairman of Gold Coast Refinery Dr Said Deraz took the minister and GoldBod delegation through the refinery’s full operational chain, demonstrating how raw gold supplied by GoldBod is processed into refined bullion bars. Deraz explained that the refining process begins with crushing raw gold into a mud-like slurry, followed by heating and purification stages which convert the material into granular form. The process then uses a flameless tunnel furnace and other advanced refining systems to produce finished gold bars.
The delegation inspected several key facilities at the refinery, including the assay laboratory, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) laboratory, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) laboratory, melting room, gold dryer, incinerator, bar production section and the refinery’s vault. At the bar production section, Forson was presented with finished gold bars bearing the official stamps of the Ghana Gold Board, Gold Coast Refinery, Bank of Ghana (BoG) and Ghana Standards Authority (GSA).
Deraz said the refinery has entered into a technical partnership with Rand Refinery, Africa’s only London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) accredited refinery, to support operations and ensure that gold sourced from Ghana’s ASM sector is refined locally to international standards. He noted the refinery has capacity to process up to two tonnes of gold per week, although the current agreement with GoldBod provides for refining one tonne per week. “These gold bars you see here are for the Ghana Gold Board. We are only service providers,” he stated.
Addressing journalists after the tour, Forson congratulated GoldBod, Gold Coast Refinery and Rand Refinery on the start of local refining, describing it as the realization of a long-held objective of President John Dramani Mahama to have Ghana refine its own gold domestically. He recalled Gold Coast Refinery was commissioned in 2016 under Mahama’s administration, but remained largely underutilized after that government left office.
Forson said the president’s desire to see the facility operate at full capacity informed government’s support for GoldBod’s decision to partner with Gold Coast Refinery and channel all ASM gold purchases into domestic refining. The Finance Minister also praised GoldBod’s performance since it began full operations in May 2025, saying tangible benefits are already emerging from its mandate.
Forson disclosed that the start of refining operations has created employment for about 162 Ghanaians and enabled the refinery to operate on a 24-hour basis, in line with government’s 24-hour economy policy. He said it is the first time in Ghana’s history that the emblem of a Ghanaian state institution has been stamped on gold bars refined locally.
The Finance Minister urged Gold Coast Refinery to work toward securing LBMA certification in the near future and encouraged GoldBod to put in place measures to establish a national assay laboratory before end of the year, pledging his support for the initiative. Forson also inspected bullion vans belonging to Gold Coast Refinery and commended the company for investing in logistics and security infrastructure, which he said will help position Ghana as a major gold refining hub in Africa.
Under the agreement signed last month, Ghana secured a 15 percent free carried interest in Gold Coast Refinery, held in trust by GoldBod on behalf of the Republic of Ghana. The partnership is expected to save millions of dollars in refining charges previously paid to refineries in Dubai, Switzerland, India, Hong Kong and other foreign countries.
GoldBod CEO Sammy Gyamfi stated during the January signing ceremony that the refinery had been significantly underutilized despite being the largest in the sub-region. “Before this agreement, we toured the Gold Coast Refinery and observed that it was significantly underutilized. This partnership allows Ghana to leverage existing capacity while ensuring that more value from our gold stays within the economy,” Gyamfi said.
The refinery, representing an investment of over United States dollar 150 million by Euroget Group of Egypt in partnership with Ghanaian shareholders, has capacity to refine up to 100 metric tonnes of gold annually. Gold Coast Refinery became the first facility in Ghana and West Africa to receive certification under the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) Code of Practices in 2022, an affiliate of the London Bullion Market Association.
The initiative aims to reduce Ghana’s dependence on exporting raw gold, a practice estimated to have cost the nation significant revenue over the years. Under the new arrangement, gold sourced from both artisanal and large-scale mining operations will be refined locally before being traded and exported, with refined gold meeting the industry’s highest standard of 99.9 percent purity.
