Answer: No

a. The GoldBod, as a public corporation, does not buy gold directly from miners. Rather, the GoldBod buys gold from its licensed aggregators.

b. Per section 3(1)(f) of ACT 1140, the GoldBod was established, among other things, to promote the formalisation of the small-scale mining industry through:

i. Responsible sourcing of gold

ii. Supply chain sustainability

iii. Traceability of gold; and

iv. Adherence to international best practice.

c. The GoldBod is further enjoined by section 3(1)(g) of ACT 1140 to promote and support environmentally sustainable and responsible mining practices.

d. This is why all gold-buying licenses issued by the GoldBod come with terms and conditions that expressly forbid licensed buyers from buying gold from illegal miners.

The terms and conditions of all our gold licenses are available on our website.

This clearly shows that the GoldBod was not established to, and has not set out to, buy illegally mined gold as claimed by some critics.

e. To effectively enforce the terms and conditions of our licences, the GoldBod, which is barely eight months old, is developing a blockchain track and trace system that will ensure that every gram of gold purchased by the GoldBod from its licensed buyers is traced to its responsible mine of origin.

f. These new reforms, coupled with the aggressive fight being waged against illegal mining by the government through the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), are proof that neither the GoldBod nor the NDC/Mahama government is interested in buying galamsey (illegally mined) gold for economic gains at the expense of the environment and human lives.

g. So far, NAIMOS has successfully evicted illegal miners from nine forest reserves that were hitherto taken over by illegal miners and armed bandits. The infamous L.I. 2462 that permitted mining in forest reserves has been revoked by the Mahama government as promised.

Restrictions on the importation of excavators and the tracking of excavators have been introduced by the government. Illegal miners are being arrested daily, mining equipment is being destroyed, some polluted water bodies are beginning to clear up, and criminal investigations and prosecutions are taking place.

h. An institution that is interested in buying galamsey gold will not resource the state body responsible for the fight against illegal mining (NAIMOS) with vehicles and cash to fight the very menace it is alleged to be promoting, like the GoldBod did in September 2025.

i. The fact is, Gold has been mined and bought in Ghana for decades without traceability.

This is the first time that a government has established an institution (GoldBod) to pursue value-chain traceability with clear timelines. The GoldBod is thus Ghana’s surest bet at achieving value-chain traceability.

j. Interestingly, the NPP that rolled out gold purchasing programmes in times past, with no responsible sourcing and traceability measures, are the one crying the loudest today about the genuine efforts of the government aimed at formalising the ASM gold trade and ending the illegal mining menace.

These are the very people who made “galamsey” a free-for-all enterprise for their party functionaries and persecuted the fighters of “galamsey.

k. Their intentions are not genuine, but only stem from their desperation to bastardise the outstanding economic gains made by the GoldBod for the country. By falsely tagging the GoldBod with “galamsey” and manufactured ‘losses’, they hope to undermine the GoldBod's success story and its impact on the national economy.