The Ghana Gold Board, which is called GoldBod for short, officially launched its operation on March 8, 2025, to officially purchase gold from legal small-scale miners and 30 percent of gold output from large-scale mining companies. 

Mandate

The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) is a statutory institution created under the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140). It was established to give Ghana much greater control over the trading, marketing, and value capture of its gold resources.

In simple terms, what is GoldBod supposed to do?

Think of GoldBod as Ghana’s central institution for controlling and organizing the gold-trading side of the industry.

Its main objectives are to:

1. Generate foreign exchange for Ghana
   • GoldBod buys and exports gold and converts the country’s gold production into foreign-exchange earnings.
   • This is intended to help Ghana’s balance of payments and support currency stability.
2. Help build Ghana’s gold reserves
   • GoldBod is expected to support the accumulation of gold reserves by the Bank of Ghana.
   • This gives Ghana an additional reserve asset instead of relying entirely on foreign currencies.
3. Control and formalize small-scale gold trading
   • One of GoldBod’s most important roles is to bring the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold trade into a formal, traceable system.
   • GoldBod is the sole buyer, seller, assayer, and exporter of gold produced by Ghana’s licensed ASM sector under the current framework.
4. Reduce gold smuggling
   • Ghana has historically lost significant foreign exchange through gold being purchased and exported outside formal channels.
   • GoldBod is therefore supposed to create a controlled supply chain so that gold can be traced from the miner through purchasing, assaying, and export.
5. Become the central authority for gold assaying
   • GoldBod has exclusive authority to weigh, grade, assay, and value gold within its statutory mandate.
   • In practical terms, this means determining the quantity and purity of gold so its correct value can be established.
6. Regulate gold traders and other market participants
   • GoldBod licenses people and companies involved in gold trading and related activities.
   • Its licensing system is intended to make the industry more transparent and accountable.
7. Promote value addition
   • GoldBod isn’t only concerned with exporting raw gold.
   • Its mandate includes promoting the transformation of Ghanaian gold into jewelry, coins, bars, bullion, castings, and other products so Ghana can capture more value locally.
8. Promote responsible and traceable gold
   • GoldBod is tasked with promoting responsible sourcing, traceability, and sustainability in the gold supply chain.
   • This is important for Ghana’s access to international gold markets and responsible-sourcing standards.
9. Support small-scale miners
   • GoldBod’s mandate includes working with the ministry responsible for mines to support small-scale miners, including assistance relating to geological investigations, concession viability, and equipment financing.
10. Participate in large-scale mining gold

• GoldBod also has government pre-emption rights concerning gold produced by large-scale mining companies.
• More recently, GoldBod has described its national reserve accumulation program as allowing it to purchase up to 30% of large-scale mining output for reserve accumulation.

The big picture

The easiest way to understand the mandate is

Ghana’s gold → GoldBod-controlled purchasing/assaying → formalization & traceability → export/value addition → foreign exchange + gold reserves + greater national economic benefit.

Before GoldBod, Ghana’s gold-trading system was more fragmented, with different private traders and institutions involved. The government argued that this fragmentation contributed to smuggling and prevented Ghana from capturing the maximum economic benefit from its gold. GoldBod was therefore created to centralize and streamline the gold-trading system.

One important distinction

GoldBod does not replace the Minerals Commission’s role in regulating mining itself. Its main focus is the gold trading/value chain side. Which are buying, selling, assaying, licensing, aggregation, export, traceability, and value addition.