Typhoon Greenfield Development Ltd and MKS PAMP, in conjunction with Development Gold International (DGI), have presented a limited run of unique gold bars to mark the first export of fully traceable and responsibly produced gold sourced from Ghanaian small-scale mines.

The presentation was made to the King of the Ashanti Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, during the Mining in Motion summit, at a gala dinner held at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City Accra.

Six bars were donated for auction, with proceeds in aid of Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II’s charities supporting land restoration and clean water conservation.

Also attending the presentation were Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Ghana's Minister of Land and Natural Resources, Kenneth Zikhale Ng’oma, Minister of Mining, Republic of Malawi; Colonel Ousmane Abarchi, Minister of mines Republic of Niger; Wilmot Paye, Minister of mines, Liberia; Godard Gibolum, Deputy Minister of mines, DRC; Aboubacar Kourama, Vice Minister of mines, Guinea-Conakry; Abdiwahab Abdi Omar, Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources of the Republic of Somalia; Sammy Gyamfi, CEO of Ghana GoldBoard; and Cisse Vakabe, Mining advisor to the president of Cote d’Ivoire.

In a historic partnership between Typhoon Greenfield Development Ltd, MKS PAMP, and DGI, backed by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), the first 445 grams of gold were produced by Typhoon Greenfield Development Ltd at its Adomanu mine and exported for refining at the MKS PAMP facilities in Switzerland.

This took place within the DGI initiative that enables small-scale mining operations to meet international standards, specifically the Development Gold Ghana Performance Standard and the LBMA Responsible Sourcing Programme.

This pivotal achievement represents the culmination of years of collaborative efforts and marks a new era in the formalisation of the small-scale mining sector, positioning Ghana as a credible source of LBMA-compliant gold from small-scale mining entrepreneurs.

Max Afriyie-Barwuah, President of Development Gold International (DGI), said: “This is a major milestone in the Ghanaian gold industry that has been many years in the making, working with mines in the field to build their technical capacity to meet international standards.

It signals the serious intention of small-scale miners in Ghana to meet international standards and of LBMA Good Delivery List (GDL) refiners to recognise Ghana as a source of formal and responsible gold from small-scale mines. Our goal is to reduce environmental degradation and enable these miners to access responsible gold markets globally at scale.”

Kwaku Afrifa Nsiah-Asare, CEO of Typhoon Greenfield Development Ltd, said: “We are thrilled to pioneer this home-grown Ghanaian responsible mining initiative DGI, and the first small-scale mining business to have our operations assessed to the Development Gold Ghana Performance Standard. Doing so has opened the opportunity to work with the most respected businesses in the international gold market such as the LBMA GDL refinery, MKS PAMP.

Partnering with DGI has also assisted us operationally, building our team’s capacity and enhancing our operating systems for greater efficiency and management of our mines’ environmental and social aspects. I expect others to follow and the formalisation of small-scale mining in Ghana to scale rapidly”.

Omar Liess, Chief Commercial Officer of MKS PAMP, said: “This partnership represents a significant step forward for responsible sourcing in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector in Ghana. We’re proud to support this initiative and look forward to continued collaboration with our partners in Ghana to scale these efforts and inspire similar initiatives globally.”

Ruth Crowell, Chief Executive of the LBMA, said: “The LBMA is encouraged by this announcement. This is exactly the kind of initiative LBMA supports. Ghana is paving the way for similar arrangements between small-scale producers working with GDL refineries in a range of countries.”

DGI’s Development Gold Ghana Performance Standard was developed in conjunction with mining industry experts at TDi Sustainability to independently assess and verify the responsible practices of small-scale gold miners.

The standard exists to create opportunities for Ghana and other nations to redefine small-scale gold mining, following a history of illegal mining, leading to ESG issues including deforestation, pollution, water contamination, habitat loss, safety risks, and social instability.

The initiative not only enhances the traceability of the gold supply chain through DGI’s tech mine-to-export platform, MineTrace, but also ensures that mining practices are environmentally sustainable and socially responsible.

Assheton Carter, Executive Chair of TDi Sustainability, said: “DGI is doing something very important; providing an indigenous Ghana-appropriate, progressive good-practice framework facilitating mine-site improvement at small-scale mines. It is creating an assurance process to demonstrate compliance with international due diligence expectations and, crucially, the technical assistance and capacity development support to uplift this vital sector for the country.

“TDi has a long history of developing responsible value chains for minerals and ASM gold in particular. It is never easy to do and takes time; in this case, four years of hard work on the ground. We are unbelievably proud to be involved in the launch and roll-out of this truly African initiative.”

LBMA launched its responsible artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) programme in 2022. The aim is to facilitate more responsibly sourced ASM gold into the LBMA Good Delivery List (GDL). The LBMA identified Ghana as one of four countries globally that showed the most promise for increasing the flow of responsibly produced ASM gold to GDL refineries.

To that end, the LBMA hosted a significant high-level Ghana government delegation at its responsible sourcing summit in 2023, which it co-convenes with the World Gold Council. It was arranged for international delegations to visit Ghana in 2023 and 2024 to engage with gold supply-chain stakeholders.

Since 2023, the LBMA has worked to facilitate responsible ASM sourcing from Ghana by its GDL refinery members, engaging with mines, traders, and the Bank of Ghana (BoG). LBMA also published an ASM Toolkit for GDL refineries to guide them in responsible sourcing from Small-Scale Mines (SSM) and to implement a system of progressive improvement rather than just compliance.