Ghana risks losing its long-standing dominance in Africa’s gold sector to Côte d’Ivoire, which is executing a deliberate strategy to become the continent’s leading gold producer within the next decade, the Ghana Chamber of Mines has warned.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Chamber Chief Executive Officer Ken Ashigbey said Côte d’Ivoire is no longer building its mining industry quietly in the background. The country has developed a focused long-term plan backed by investment incentives and a stable policy environment that mirrors the approach it used to overtake Ghana in cocoa production decades ago.
The warning arrives at a sensitive policy moment. Ghana is navigating debate over a proposed 20-year lease extension for Gold Fields’s Tarkwa Mine, with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) urging government to reject the extension and instead pursue stronger state participation and deeper local ownership. The Chamber fears that abrupt policy shifts or signals perceived as hostile to long-term investors could accelerate capital movement to competing jurisdictions, particularly Côte d’Ivoire.
Ashigbey pointed out that gold belts stretch across West Africa without regard for national borders. What determines where mining capital flows, he argued, is not the presence of minerals but the predictability of the investment climate. Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire share similar geology. What increasingly differs is the environment each country offers investors.
The parallel with cocoa is difficult to dismiss. Ghana was once Africa’s undisputed cocoa powerhouse. Through consistent reforms, expanded production and targeted incentives, Côte d’Ivoire gradually overtook Ghana and has since consolidated its position as the world’s largest producer. Ashigbey warned that the same pattern is now unfolding in gold, and some mining companies and Ghanaian entrepreneurs are already exploring opportunities across the border, drawn by Côte d’Ivoire’s evolving investment environment.
The Chamber insists that foreign direct investment (FDI) remains essential to sustaining Ghana’s position in global gold production, particularly as projects grow more capital intensive and technologically demanding. Large-scale mining requires billions of dollars in upfront investment, advanced equipment, deep geological expertise and environmental management systems that international firms continue to provide. FDI in the sector also supports employment, export earnings, tax revenues and local business participation across mining communities.
The central question Ghana must now answer is whether it can deepen local ownership and advance resource sovereignty without triggering the investor retreat that could cost it the second crown Côte d’Ivoire is actively chasing.
