The CEO of the Gold Board, Sammy Gyamfi, has outlined sweeping measures to ensure all small-scale gold purchases in Ghana are traceable and responsibly sourced.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition recently, he said the initiative is anchored on strict licensing, enforcement, and a nationwide traceability system.

“That borders on the issue of responsible sourcing and traceability. So if you go on our website, you'll see that we have a whole policy on responsible sourcing, and we don't joke with that.”

He explained that the first layer of control is the formalisation of gold trading.

“To start with, we have formalised the trade to ensure that anyone buying gold for us has our license. Once you have our license, we can control you, because the license is given to you on the basis of law, which allows us to regulate how you use it to buy gold.”

According to him, license holders are bound by strict rules on sourcing.

“And so every license comes with terms and conditions, and you are told only to buy gold from licensed miners.”

He warned that breaches will attract sanctions under the law.

“Section 50 (9C) of the Gold Board Act says, if you breach any condition of your license, you have committed a crime. So that is a deterrence factor.”

“If you are buying gold with a Gold board license, and you are caught buying gold from a miner other than a licensed miner, we can prosecute you.”

Mr Gyamfi said beyond enforcement, the Board is deploying systems to verify the origin of gold.

“Now, the second thing is to put in place the systems that allow the Gold Board to monitor and ensure that every gram of gold it receives is from a responsible mine, not just a licensed mine, but a responsible mine.”

He noted that the plan includes bringing more miners into the formal system.

“So you need to roll out the formalisation program to ensure that we work together with the Ministry for Lands and Natural Resources to formalise a lot of these artisanal miners into the cooperative mining scheme, and also into the mainstream licensed small-scale mining sector.”

He disclosed that the programme is near rollout.

“So that formalisation program, we are putting it together, and very soon we will announce it. The President will be involved, and we'll roll it out.”

He added that the traceability system is already in development. “The traceability solution is already being worked on.”