The Ghana Chamber of Mines is calling for government support to reduce the cost of refining gold locally as Ghana pushes to retain more value from its mineral resources.

Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Dr Ken Ashigbey, says government must take an active role in making local refining commercially viable.

“Government needs to put its skin in the game.”

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Wednesday, Dr Ashigbey said the push for local content would come with additional costs. He, however, argued that the burden should not fall entirely on industry.

“But again, all of us need to chip in. The more we do in this country, and the more we all work together, government needs to put its skin in the game.”

His comments come as Ghana accelerates plans to end the export of raw gold and increase domestic value addition.

GoldBod has directed Self-Financing Aggregators to refine gold doré in Ghana before export from September 1, 2026. Under the directive, unrefined gold doré will no longer be approved for export.

The refining must be done at a GoldBod-approved or designated refinery, with the cost borne by the aggregator or its approved offtaker.

The policy forms part of the broader push towards Ghana’s 2030 target of ending raw mineral exports. GoldBod has also been working with the large-scale mining sector to channel gold into local refining and reserve accumulation.

Dr Ashigbey believes the government can ease the transition by reviewing taxes and levies that affect refineries.

“The issue, of course, is that it is coming from the taxes and the levies that are on; government would have to look at that, and I know that conversation is going on.”

He also wants private refinery operators to invest in technology that can lower their production costs.

“The issues of these private sector people who own the refineries in terms of the technology that they need to put in to be able to ensure that they reduce their cost, it’s something that we need to do.”

Power costs, he said, are another major concern.

“The issues of even power, you know, currently the cost of power, so there might be some policy decisions that would have to be taken.”

Dr Ashigbey suggested that the government could consider granting refineries preferential access to cheaper hydroelectricity due to their strategic importance.

“Because of the criticality of refineries, is it possible that in the energy mix, we will give them, you know, a lot more of the hydro that is cheaper?”

He also pointed to proposed solar investments under the 24-hour economy as another possible way to reduce energy costs.

“The conversations, the 24-hour economy is thinking of putting together some solar, you know, large solar plants, you know, and which will reduce the cost of energy to around 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt-hour.”

For Dr Ashigbey, local refining remains a worthwhile goal, but the burden must be shared by government and industry.

“So I think that this issue of beneficiation is a good thing for us, and, you know, all of us need to chip in.”

He stressed that the transition must be collaborative if Ghana is to reduce the cost of local processing.

“But it has to be done collaboratively. Government need to embrace industry to all work together so that we all can reduce the cost of doing this, because we’re looking at the issues of value.”

He cited the cost absorbed under the Ghana Accelerated National Reserve Accumulation Programme as an example of the burden already borne by industry.

“So there’s some pain again, like the large scale, for example, the GANRAP, we are starting with a 0.55 when we are doing a weighted average of 0.098. So that’s some extra subsidisation that we’re doing for government.”

He said the objective should ultimately be collective.

“But we all need to work together as a collective, as a country, as investors working together with government to reduce the cost.”