New council seeks to supercharge Africa’s gold value chain
Thu Feb 12 2026
A new think-tank launched at this week’s Investing in African Mining Indaba seeks to provide data and strategic advice to governments, companies and mining communities in the continent’s gold sector.
The Africa Gold Council (AGC) is a voluntary, member-led organisation set up to help support the development of a productive, profitable, and sustainable African gold ecosystem. It intends to deliver on that by building an independent, autonomous voice for Africa’s gold industry and value chain participants, focused solely on driving sectoral prosperity for all.
The founding of the structure comes as the rallying of the gold price continues to consistently break records over the past year. Africa is the largest gold-producing region in the world, accounting for 27% of global production in 2022, with Ghana being the largest producer on the continent.
According to Trading Economics, the gold price has surged 10.65% in the past month, up 73.11% compared to the same time last year, with the commodity reaching a historical all-time high of $5,608.35 in January.
Speaking during a briefing at the Mining Indaba on Wednesday afternoon, AGC CEO Jude Uzonwanne said the council is a catalytic advocacy organisation founded recently to deepen the presence, usage and economics of gold on the African continent.
“It’s really ultimately about helping create an ecosystem for gold on the continent, instead of doing what we have been doing for the past few decades, which is simply exporting the ore. We are now trying to drive the transformative power of gold across the continent,” he said.
Nicole Smith, director at the AGC, said Africa needs to create a new narrative around gold and its value chain.
“We are about providing information, education and data around the full spectrum of the gold value chain — and engaging partners, collaborating and creating that space holder for everything that concerns gold in Africa,” she said.
Keith Nare, head of research at the AGC, said the council seeks to build capacity from an educational point of view and provide data from an African perspective regarding gold. He said the council does not seek to compete with bodies like the World Gold Council but rather to complement their work.
“The gold market involves different ecosystem partners, so this is not an enterprise that works in silos. We are actually looking to partner and work with other institutions, government, policy bodies and financial institutions, because it’s a full ecosystem that we are looking at,” he said.
AGC officials said the council seeks to: