Gold Coast Refinery has successfully refined the first consignment of gold supplied by the Ghana Gold Board following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two few weeks ago.

The successful refining of the first consignment of 300 kilogrammes marks a major step towards value addition in the country’s minerals and transition from exporting raw gold to exporting refined bullion.

Furthermore, it fulfils a long-standing vision of the government to maximise revenue from the country’s gold resources.

Addressing the media after a tour of the Gold Coast Refinery and inspection of the first consignment of the refined gold, the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson said the programme was the realisation of a vision first articulated in 2016 by President John Dramani Mahama, when he officially commissioned the Gold Coast Refinery to begin refining Ghana’s gold locally.

He said although the vision stalled after 2016, the current administration had revived and fully implemented it following its return to office in 2025.

“In January 2025, during the President’s first State of the Nation Address, he signalled the formation of the Ghana Gold Board, which was a key pillar of our manifesto,” he said.

The Minister explained that Parliament subsequently passed the Ghana Gold Board Act in the first half of 2025, paving the way for the Board to begin operations in May.

He noted that since then, the Gold Board had been purchasing gold from the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector for export and domestic value addition.

Describing the Ghana Gold Board as “revolutionary and visionary,” Dr Forson said the Board had transformed Ghana’s gold industry and attracted global attention for its innovative approach.

He said as part of the latest milestone, the Gold Board had entered into an agreement with the Gold Coast Refinery to supply one tonne of gold per week for refining, with plans to scale up to two tonnes weekly in the near future.

The Minister said the refinery currently had the capacity to refine up to two tonnes of gold per day and had already employed about 162 workers, operating a 24-hour production cycle in line with the government’s 24-hour economy policy.

In addition, he explained that the Gold Board itself now had the capacity to purchase an average of 2.5 tonnes of gold per week.

“It is our policy to ensure that in the shortest possible time, Ghana will not be exporting raw gold outside this country,” Dr Forson stated.