Page 20 - Bullion World Volume 5 Issue 07 July 2025
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Bullion World | Volume 5 | Issue 07 | July 2025
GHANA The Gold Board stressed that applying for a
license does not permit individuals or businesses
STRENGTHENS to begin trading. Any person or entity trading in
gold without an official Gold Board license faces
severe penalties, including fines ranging from
GOLD SECTOR 50,000 to 200,000 penalty units, imprisonment of
five to ten years, or both.
OVERSIGHT To enforce these new regulations, a dedicated
WITH LICENSING Gold Board Task Force will be inaugurated by
the President on July 8, 2025. The task force will
REFORMS AND comprise military officers, members of the Ghana
Police Service, and civilian intelligence operatives.
TASK FORCE They will be permanently deployed in mining
and trading areas to combat illegal gold trading,
smuggling, and pricing manipulation that adversely
LAUNCH affects Ghana’s economy and foreign reserves. All
task force officers will wear body cameras, operate
GPS-tracked vehicles, and be monitored live from
a command center in Accra to prevent abuse,
extortion, and corruption.
The Board has mandated that no audits or
inspections may be carried out without a written
warrant from the CEO. In addition, drones and
tracking technologies will be used to enhance
surveillance and enforcement. A whistleblower
policy will be launched, featuring toll-free hotlines
and offering informants a significant share of any
confiscated gold’s value.
In a strong statement on ownership, the Gold
Board reiterated that licenses will only be issued to
Ghanaian nationals. Fronting for foreign individuals
or companies is strictly prohibited. Intelligence
units are already monitoring areas such as Kumasi
In a decisive move to formalize and and Obuasi for violations, and offenders—both
secure its gold industry, Ghana’s Gold Ghanaian and foreign—will be prosecuted without
Board has intensified efforts to regulate exception.
the sector by enforcing licensing,
deploying a dedicated task force, and Highlighting the economic significance, the Board
introducing strict compliance measures. noted that small-scale miners exported over 50
At a recent press briefing, the Board tons of gold in the first half of the year, surpassing
large-scale mining exports and generating more
revealed that while 240 licenses have than $5 billion in foreign exchange. This has
been approved to date-including three helped stabilize the cedi and bolster the Bank of
self-financing aggregator licenses, 87 Ghana’s reserves.
Tier 1 licenses, and 32 Tier 2 licenses-
only 123 licenses have been printed Effective immediately, a list of licensed traders
and collected. Approved applicants are will be published on the Gold Board’s website to
being urged to complete their payments help the public verify legal operators. The Board
via Ghana.gov to receive their licenses, called on all Ghanaians, media, and stakeholders
as operating without a printed license is to support this national reform agenda, which aims
illegal. to protect Ghana’s mineral wealth and strengthen
the economy.
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