Chief Executive Officer of the Gold Board, Sammy Gyamfi, has warned that individuals and firms buying gold outside approved channels risk prosecution as authorities tighten oversight of the sector.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition recently, he said the Board is enforcing strict controls to ensure responsible sourcing and traceability.

“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 revealed that the trade has been formalised to bring all gold buyers under regulatory control.

“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, the licensing regime comes with strict rules.

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

He stressed that breaches will not be tolerated.

“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.”

Mr Gyamfi issued a direct warning to dealers who attempt to bypass the system.

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

Beyond enforcement, he said, systems are being deployed to track every ounce of gold purchased.

“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 broader reforms are underway to clean up the small-scale mining sector.

“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.”

The Gold Board, he added, is finalising the programme for 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 also disclosed that a tracking system is already in development. “The traceability solution is already being worked on.”