THE World Gold Council hoped that its work helping Ghana formalise its artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector would be “taken into consideration” as the West African country reformed its mining regulations.
Ghana this week approved draft legislation reforming its mining sector. Measures include a sliding-scale gold royalty regime tied to prices, and the phase-out of fiscal stability agreements – a development that could affect major miners such as Newmont, Gold Fields, AngloGold Ashanti, Zijin and Perseus Mining.
“I understand from the Ghana government perspective that they want a larger share of the sector’s earnings at these high gold prices, but they also need to allow miners to invest for the long-term under conditions that are stable and fair,” said David Tait, CEO of the council, in an interview this week.
“It sits uncomfortably with me,” Tait added.
However, he believed the council’s support in developing ASGM would be “taken into consideration” as the country formulated regulations. “All our member companies, particularly those operating in Ghana, are fully behind this initiative and will undoubtedly play their part in making this work,” he said of the WGC’s work.
Galamsey, as artisanal and small-scale miners are known in the local lingo, have for the most part operated illegally in the country over the past decades, causing significant environmental and social damage in rural communities.
Amid the rising gold price, however, ASGM has surged. It now employs over one million people directly and supports the livelihoods of nearly five million more, according to Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) estimates. Last year’s 104 tons of gold from ASGM exceeded production from large-scale mining for the first time, generating nearly $11bn in forex earnings.
The GoldBod was established by the Ghana government in 2025 to centralise buying of local gold from the formal as well as the informal sector, while at the same time seeking to formalise ASGM processes and activities.
The formalisation drive gained fresh momentum this week, when the WGC signed a memorandum of understanding with Ghana to formalise ASGM. The agreement aims to strengthen supply chain integrity as well as introduce environmental standards. Illicit finance and gold flows linked to artisanal mining are also in the cross-hairs of the MoU.
The WGC has committed an initial $250,000 development grant – part of a wider $1m partnership – to support registering artisanal mining groups as legally recognised cooperatives.
“This partnership with the WGC reflects Ghana’s clear commitment to transforming ASGM into a responsible, well-regulated and economically empowering sector,” said Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Ghana’s Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, in a statement.
The two parties envisage a national network of trusted processing plants channelling artisanal gold into the formal market. The WGC has been advancing the analytical case for formalisation for several years and has articulated a framework around scaling up centralised processing plants in gold-producing regions of the country. These plants would process the ore from ASGM operators and sell the gold through accredited refineries to buyers, in particular central banks, at market-related prices.
Regional refineries would use cyanide-based processes that provide much higher recovery rates than mercury, which most ASGM miners currently use to process ore.
“The economics matter crucially, as it means ASGM miners, even those operating illegally, earn more by engaging with the formal system than by avoiding it,” said Tait.
“At the same time, processing plants can serve as the point at which origin verification, due diligence, and environmental and social standards can be applied systematically.”
