GoldBod rejects claim CEO Sammy Gyamfi endorsed illegal mining

The Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod) has rejected claims that its Chief Executive Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, endorsed illegal mining, describing a video circulating on social media as selectively edited and misleading.

In a statement issued on 24 October 2026, GoldBod said the clip came from an engagement with artisanal and small-scale miners in March 2026 and omits the context in which Mr Gyamfi explained government’s plan to document mining operators and move eligible informal miners into a lawful, regulated, and environmentally responsible regime.

Government’s policy, it said, “is not to legitimize illegal mining” but to end illegality by bringing eligible operators into a system where they can be licensed, monitored, and held accountable.

Media reports said the video showed Mr Gyamfi suggesting that some unlicensed miners be helped to obtain licences rather than chased by soldiers.

The Minority Caucus in Parliament is demanding his resignation or dismissal, an apology, and sanctions. Ranking Member of the Lands and Natural Resources Committee, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, said in the caucus statement that the position attributed to him contradicts the Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703). The caucus also called for an audit of GoldBod’s traceability records.

A day earlier, a coalition of civil society groups, including A Rocha Ghana, demanded a public retraction, insisting on “no licence, no mining”.

The Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners, however, said Sammy Gyamfi's remarks were taken out of context. It said they were made at a programme it jointly organised with GoldBod at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on 23 March 2026, attended by over 1,500 mine owners.

In a post on X on 23 October, Mr Gyamfi also said mining in water bodies, forest reserves, and places such as roadsides and school lands cannot be tolerated, but that formalising other unlicensed miners is better than chasing them with soldiers.

GoldBod said this philosophy underpins its planned Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) Formalisation and Financing Support Programme (FFSP), being pursued with the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the University of Mines and Technology, and the Minerals Income Investment Fund, with technical support from Rand Refinery SA.

The programme aims to raise production, revenues, and jobs while cutting costs and curbing environmental degradation. Consultations with government agencies, miners’ associations, and civil society organisations have begun, ahead of a planned 2027 rollout.

GoldBod is also partnering the Ghana Geological Survey Authority on studies at Funsi and Bensere to help eliminate “lottery mining”.

The Board cited its enforcement record, including support for the National Anti-Illegal Mining Operations Secretariat (NAIMOS), funding reclamation of 50 hectares in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve, and procuring a track-and-trace system.

“These are not the actions or policies of an institution that endorses illegal mining,” the statement said.

GoldBod said its position aligns with Section 3(1)(f) of the Ghana Gold Board Act, 2025 (Act 1140), which mandates it to promote the formalisation of small-scale mining through supply chain sustainability. The Act, assented to on 2 April 2025, makes GoldBod the sole buyer, seller, assayer, and exporter of gold from the licensed artisanal and small-scale sector.