Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has dismissed claims that the newly established body encourages illegal mining by buying galamsey gold.

“To create the impression that nobody was buying galamsey gold and all of a sudden GoldBod is now giving it a market is clearly wrong,” he said.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show during a discussion on the government’s commitment to the fight against illegal mining, Mr Gyamfi said that such claims are misleading.

“There has always been a market for gold anywhere in the world, including Ghana. Have we ever woken up to any news that there is stranded gold in Ghana? There’s always demand,” he said.

Mr Gyamfi explained that GoldBod does not directly buy gold. Instead, licensed private individuals make the purchases.

“Gold Board itself is not on the market buying gold. These licensed buyers are not stationed at mining sites. They sit in their offices, mostly in district and regional capitals, and buy gold brought to them. They have no technology or system to tell whether the gold was mined responsibly or not,” he noted.

He said the issue of traceability in the gold sector has existed since colonial times, and GoldBod, though only five months old, has been tasked to help address it.

“It is this five-month-old corporation called Gold Board that has now been given the mandate to find a solution to that problem. You think we can find a solution in five months to a problem that has existed for decades?” he asked.

According to him, the Board is already working on introducing a traceability system by the end of the year to help identify the source of gold. This will involve modern technologies such as satellite monitoring, RFID, and blockchain to ensure responsible sourcing.

“By next year, we will commence the rollout of this system. Licensed miners will have to seal and scan their gold with unique codes so buyers can know exactly where it is coming from. Aggregators will also have to trace the origin even after melting,” Mr Gyamfi explained.

He said that traceability will not only help fight illegal mining but also open Ghana’s gold to better international markets.

“Currently, because small-scale gold is not traceable, we are limited to markets in Dubai, Hong Kong, India, and Turkey. With traceability, we can access LBMA refineries in Switzerland and China where prices are higher,” he said.

He insisted that GoldBod’s mandate is to promote responsible mining and sustainability, not to fuel illegal mining.

“People are having the wrong impression that Gold Board is in the market buying galamsey gold. Nothing of that sort is happening,” he said.