The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), Sammy Gyamfi, has firmly denied allegations that the institution purchases gold from illegal miners.
His response follows claims made by policy analyst Kofi Bentil on TV3’s The Key Points on October 11, alleging that the majority of gold acquired by GoldBod originates from illegal mining activities.
Joining the programme via phone, Mr. Gyamfi dismissed the allegation as completely false.
“He stated categorically that about 85% of small-scale miners in the country are galamseyers, and therefore 85% of the gold being purchased by GoldBod, by inference, is coming from galamsey. I want to put on record that that statement is totally false,” he said.
The CEO explained that the Ghana GoldBod operates strictly within the law.
“GoldBod is a creature of law. The Ghana Gold Board was established under Act 1140, passed by Parliament in 2024. That law provides for how and where GoldBod must buy gold,” he noted.
According to him, the law mandates them to purchase gold only from licensed miners.
“If you read it, you’ll find out that GoldBod is mandated by law to only buy gold from licensed miners.”
“There are about seven large-scale mining companies in Ghana that GoldBod currently buys 20% of their gold from,” he stated, adding that the head of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ken Ashigbey, could attest to this fact.
Touching on small-scale mining, Mr. Gyamfi stressed that the same legal standards apply.
“The law requires the GoldBod to buy gold produced by licensed small-scale miners,” he said, revealing that there are over 2,000 licensed small-scale miners across the country who serve as the primary source of gold for the institution.
He added that Kofi Bentil would not be allowed to get away with such ‘falsehoods’ on such a large platform.
