GoldBod CEO Sammy Gyamfi says reforms in Ghana’s gold trade have created 4,866 jobs, with a new formalisation and financing programme for artisanal and small-scale miners planned for 2027.
Speaking at the 2026 Mining in Motion Conference, Gyamfi said the jobs had emerged from institutional, licensing and value-addition reforms introduced over the past two years.
“The new institutional, licensing and value-addition reforms that we have introduced in the last two years have produced 4,866 new jobs,” he said.
He added that the reforms were also creating indirect employment opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs operating across the gold value chain.
Gyamfi said GoldBod would roll out a formalisation and financing support programme for artisanal and small-scale miners next year, working with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the University of Mines and Technology, the Minerals Income Investment Fund and South African firm Rand Refinery.
He said the programme would help miners improve production, reduce operating costs and limit the environmental damage associated with their activities.
“The goal is simple. We want to sustainably ramp up gold production, mineral revenue and job creation while reducing operational cost and the environmental degradation associated with artisanal and small-scale mining,” he said.
Gyamfi argued that properly organised small-scale mining could provide more opportunities for Ghanaians to participate in the industry as mine owners, equipment suppliers, engineers, processors and traders.
He said Ghana needed to move beyond simply extracting and exporting minerals and create opportunities for local people to control more of the businesses and services linked to mining.
“If young Africans are confined to supplying labour or extracting ore at the lowest end of the chain, mineral sovereignty must instead create credible pathways for Africans to become lawful producers, mine owners, geologists, engineers, equipment owners, financiers, processors, refiners and traders,” he said.
Gyamfi said the planned programme would support local participation while promoting more sustainable mining practices.
