IN SHORT: Ghana’s central bank is pushing large-scale gold miners to sell 30% of their annual output to the state, up from the current 20%, as part of an accelerated reserve-building drive. The Bank of Ghana wants all 30% delivered as unrefined dore to feed local refineries. Miners say key commercial terms, including pricing discounts and by-product valuations, remain unresolved.
Ghana is pressing its gold mining industry to hand over 30% of annual output to the central bank, up from 20%, as Accra doubles down on its strategy to build foreign reserves and develop domestic refining capacity. The Bank of Ghana’s Gold Management Program head Paul Bleboo confirmed the target to Reuters on May 15, 2026. The Ghana Chamber of Mines says no agreement has been reached and negotiations over pricing and discount terms are ongoing.
- Ghana launched its compulsory bullion purchase program in 2022 after the country’s worst macroeconomic crisis in a generation, securing agreements with nine large-scale miners to supply 20% of output to the state-owned Ghana Gold Board.
- The government revamped the program in February 2026, targeting 157 metric tonnes of gold reserves by 2028, equivalent to 15 months of import cover. Gold reserves stood at 19.2 tonnes in February.
- Unlike the existing 20% arrangement where miners sell refined gold, the proposed 30% would all be purchased as dore for processing through local refineries, a shift that underpins Ghana’s ambition to capture more value domestically.
- Ghana Chamber of Mines CEO Kenneth Ashigbey says discussions on pricing and discounts are “not straightforward.” Miners oppose an under-1% discount the central bank is proposing and reject zero valuation being applied to silver and other refining by-products.
- A mining executive told Reuters that companies want a gradual ramp-up since internal plans were built around a 20% allocation. The industry also says actual delivery against the 20% commitment has run at closer to 10% in practice.
- Ghana is Africa’s largest gold producer with around 136 metric tonnes produced in 2024, representing an 8.5% increase over the prior year.
The push to raise the offtake rate is part of a broader wave of resource nationalism reshaping Africa’s gold sector. Ghana has separately set a December 2026 deadline for multinational miners to shift contracting work to local firms and has taken state control of the Damang mine following the expiration of Gold Fields’ lease. Central banks globally are accumulating gold at the fastest pace in decades as record prices, now well above $3,000 per ounce, reframe bullion as a strategic reserve asset rather than a legacy holding.
The Bigger Picture: Ghana is testing how far a resource-rich African state can push extractive industry localisation without triggering capital flight. The commercial dispute at the heart of this standoff, pricing, discounts, and by-product valuations, is ultimately a question of who captures the refining margin that currently leaves the country. If Ghana succeeds, it accelerates a trend already visible in Mali, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, where African governments are using licensing leverage to renegotiate terms with mining majors. If the terms prove unworkable, companies may trim investment in new Ghanaian projects, reducing the very output the central bank is trying to capture.
Source: Mining.com / Bloomberg, May 18, 2026
